The purpose and task of the armed forces of Denmark is defined in Law no. 122 of February 27, 2001 and in force since March 1, 2001. It defines three purposes and six tasks.

Its primary purpose is to prevent conflicts and war, preserve the sovereignty of Denmark, secure the continuing existence and integrity of the independent Kingdom of Denmark and further a peaceful development in the world with respect to human rights.

Its primary tasks are: NATO participation in accordance with the strategy of the alliance, detect and repel any sovereignty violation of Danish territory (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), defence cooperation with non-NATO members, especially Central and East European countries, international missions in the area of conflict prevention, crises-control, humanitarian, peacemaking, peacekeeping, participation in Total Defence[clarification needed] in cooperation with civilian resources and finally maintenance of a sizable force to execute these tasks at all times.

This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2016)

Since 1988, Danish defence budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority including government and opposition parties. However, public opposition to increases in defence spending—during a period when economic constraints require reduced spending for social welfare—has created differences among the political parties regarding a broadly acceptable level of new defence expenditure.

The latest Defence agreement ("Defence agreement 2005–2009") was signed June 10, 2004, and calls for a significant re-construction of the entire military, from now about 60% support structure and 40% combat operational capability, it is to be 40% support structure and 60% combat operational capability, i.e. more combat soldiers and fewer "paper"-soldiers. The reaction speed is increased, with an entire brigade on standby readiness; the military retains the capability to continually deploy 2,000 soldiers in international service or 5,000 over a short time span. The standard mandatory conscription is modified. Generally this means fewer conscripts, less service time for them and only those who choose so, will continue into the reaction force system.

The Danish Defence Force, counting all branches and all departments, itself has an income equal to about 1–5% of its expenditures, depending on the year, they are not deducted in this listing.

Approximately 95% of the budget goes directly to running the Danish military including the Home guard. Depending on year, 50–53% accounts for payment to personnel, roughly 14–21% on acquiring new material, 2–8% for larger ships, building projects or infrastructure and about 24–27% on other items, including purchasing of goods, renting, maintenance, services and taxes.

Technically all Danish 18-year-old males are conscripts (37,897 in 2010, of whom 53% were considered suitable for duty).[15] Due to the large number of volunteers, 96-99% of the number required in the past three years,[16] the number of men actually called up is relatively low (4200 in 2012). There were additionally 567 female volunteers in 2010, who pass training on "conscript-like" conditions.[17]

Conscripts in the Danish Defence (army, navy and air force) generally serve four months,[18][19] except:

1.
Royal Danish Army
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The Royal Danish Army is the ground-based branch of the Danish Defence, together with the Danish Home Guard. Founded in 1614, in the wake of the Kalmar War, with time, these goals have developed into also encompassing the need to protect freedom and peaceful development in the world with respect for human rights. At the same time, the need for maintenance of the army in peacetime became pertinent, the Royal Danish Army has historically been an integral part of the defence of Denmark and thus involved in warfare, skirmishes and battles continuously to protect her interests. In modern times the Royal Danish Army has also become the backbone of Danish international missions, such as those in Kosovo, Iraq, starting in 2001, the Royal Danish Army has also been involved in the War in Afghanistan. The Danish army withdrew its forces from Afghanistan in May 2014. The structure of the Danish army changed in 2015, leaving Danish Division without brigades or support troops directly under its command, the two brigades have only command over combat battalions, as combat support and logistic support units are now grouped under various support centres. 1st Brigade consists of four battalions and is tasked with providing troops for international deployments. 2nd Brigade consists of five battalions and is tasked with the defence of the Danish territory, support centres contain the armys combat support, combat logistic and general support units, and in some cases perform also tasks for the entire Danish defence structure, i. e. The Aviation Troops flew two squadrons of Fokker C. V reconnaissance aircraft from 1923 to 1932, when 17 Gloster Gauntlet fighters were purchased to form two new squadrons. In 1937, ten Fokker D. XXI fighters were built on licence in the Royal Army Aircraft Factory at Værløse, as a result of the establishment of the Royal Danish Air Force in 1950, the Army Aviation Troops were disbanded and activities transferred to the new service. During the Cold War the Army created the Army Air Service in 1971, which flew anti-tank and transport helicopters

Royal Danish Army
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Danish military veterans are welcomed home and greeted as victors in the streets of Copenhagen, upon return from the First Schleswig War, 1849. The banner reads 'Thank you, you who fell, and you who stayed behind'
Royal Danish Army
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Identification symbol
Royal Danish Army
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A Danish Guard Hussar interacting with the local population in Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2009
Royal Danish Army
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Danish Military Police conduct advanced law enforcement training involving high risk arrest scenarios at the Grafenwöhr Training Area in Germany, 2009.

2.
Royal Danish Navy
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The Royal Danish Navy is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic. Other tasks include surveillance, search and rescue, icebreaking, oil recovery and prevention as well as contributions to international tasks. During the period 1509–1814, when Denmark was in a union with Norway, despite this, the navy is now equipped with a number of large state-of-the-art vessels commissioned since the end of the Cold War. This can be explained by its location as the NATO member controlling access to the Baltic. Danish Navy ships carry the prefix KDM in Danish, but this is translated to HDMS in English, Denmark is one of several NATO member states whose navies do not deploy submarines. The geographic layout of Denmark has a coastline to land area ratio of 1,5.9, by comparison, the figure for the Netherlands is 1,92.1 and for the United States,1,493.2. Denmark therefore naturally has long-standing maritime traditions, dating back to the 9th century when the Vikings had small, with time, the defence pacts gave rise to larger, more offensive fleets which the Vikings used for plundering coastal areas. In the period after the Vikings, and up to the 15th century, indeed, it is said that king Valdemar Sejr had more than 1,000 ships during the conquest of Estonia in 1219. Together they carried more than 30,000 soldiers with horses and supplies, records exist of a unified Danish navy from the late 14th century. Queen Margaret I, who had just founded the Kalmar Union ordered the building of a navy — mainly to defend the union against the Hanseatic League. Earlier the national fleet had consisted of vessels owned and operated by the nobility, the earlier monarchs therefore had to rely on conscription from the nobility, which was not always easy as the monarchy itself often had enemies within the nobility. Queen Margaret I gave instructions for a navy to be constituted and maintained under the control of the monarchy, the nobility still had to provide crews for these ships, though the core crew-members could be employed by the monarch. There were also education officers, mainly levied from the nobility, in the 15th century, especially during the reign of King Hans, Danish trade expanded appreciably, increasing the need for the delivery of merchandise. As shipping was the means of transport at the time. King Hans is credited with establishing a joint Dano-Norwegian fleet in 1509 and they were mainly petty criminals, who had to choose between working in the king’s navy or imprisonment. They received basic training in seamanship and carpentry, enabling them to sail the ships, responsibility for weaponry and combat was still in the hands of conscripted farmers. For these, the country was divided into a number of counties — known in Danish as skipæn and it was also during this period that dedicated naval bases and shipyards were founded

Royal Danish Navy
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Battle of Køge Bay
Royal Danish Navy
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Naval Ensign
Royal Danish Navy
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The Danish submarine Havmanden circa World War One
Royal Danish Navy
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Ships scuttled by the Danish Navy on 29 August 1943

3.
Monarchy of Denmark
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The Monarchy of Denmark, colloquially known as the Danish Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes not only Denmark, but the regions of Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark were already consolidated in the late 8th century, originally an elective monarchy, it became hereditary only in the 17th century during the reign of Frederick III. A decisive transition to a constitutional monarchy occurred in 1849 with the writing of the first Constitution, the current Royal House is a branch of the princely family of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, the same royal house as the Norwegian and former Greek royal families. The Danish Monarchy is constitutional and as such, the role of the monarch is defined and limited by the Constitution of Denmark, the monarch is, in practice, limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, Queen Margrethe II ascended the throne on the death of her father, King Frederick IX, on 14 January 1972. On her accession, Queen Margrethe II became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margrethe I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375‒1412, during the Kalmar Union. Danish regnal names have traditionally alternated between Frederick and Christian, Margrethe has taken the place of a Christian, and accordingly her heir apparent is Crown Prince Frederik. The modern Kingdom of Denmark dates back to Harthacnuts son, Gorm the Old, the first King of a united Scotland was King Kenneth MacAlpin who died around 80 years before Gorm the Old was born. The Danes were united and officially Christianized in 965 CE by Harald Bluetooth, furthermore, the Jelling stones attests that Harald had also won Norway. The son of Harald, Sweyn Forkbeard, mounted a series of wars of conquest against England, the reign of Cnut represented the peak of the Danish Viking age, his North Sea Empire included Denmark, Norway, England and held strong influence over the north-eastern coast of Germany. The last monarch descended from Valdemar IV, Christopher III of Denmark, Count Christian of Oldenburg, descendant of Valdemar IVs aunt Richeza, was chosen as his successor and became the next monarch of Denmark, ruling under the name Christian I. Originally the Danish monarchy was elective, but in practice the eldest son of the monarch was elected. Later a Coronation Charter was signed by the king to restrict the powers of the Danish monarch, in 1657, during the Second Northern War, King Frederick III launched a war of revenge against Sweden which turned into a complete disaster. The war became a disaster for two reasons, Primarily, because Denmarks new powerful ally, the Netherlands, remained neutral as Denmark was the aggressor and Sweden the defender. Secondly, the Belts froze over in an occurrence during the winter of 1657-1658. In the following Treaty of Roskilde, Denmark–Norway capitulated and gave up all of Eastern Denmark, in addition to the counties of Bohuslän, but the Second Northern War was not yet over. Three months after the treaty was signed, Charles X Gustav held a council of war where he decided to simply wipe Denmark from the map

Monarchy of Denmark
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Queen of Denmark
Monarchy of Denmark
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Royal coat of arms of Denmark
Monarchy of Denmark
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One of the two Jelling stones, attesting to Harald Bluetooth's unification and Christianization of Denmark.
Monarchy of Denmark
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Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

4.
Margrethe II of Denmark
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Margrethe II is the Queen of Denmark. She is also the authority of the Church of Denmark. Born into the House of Glücksburg, a house with origins in Northern Germany, she was the eldest child of Frederick IX of Denmark. She succeeded her father upon his death on 14 January 1972, having had become heir presumptive to her father in 1953, on her accession, Margrethe became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375–1412 during the Kalmar Union. Having been on the Danish throne for 45 years, she is the second longest-reigning Danish monarch after her ancestor Christian IV, in 1967, she married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, with whom she has two sons, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim. Princess Margrethe was born 16 April 1940 at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen as the first child of Crown Prince Frederick, later King Frederick IX and Crown Princess Ingrid and her birth took place just one week after Nazi Germanys invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940. She was baptised on 14 May in the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen, since her paternal grandfather was also the King of Iceland, she was given an Icelandic name, Þórhildur. When Margrethe was four years old, in 1944, her first sister, Princess Benedikte later married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and lives some of the time in Germany. Her second sister Princess Anne Marie was born in 1946, anne-Marie later married Constantine II of Greece and now lives in Greece. Margrethe and her sisters grew up in apartments at Frederick VIIIs Palace at Amalienborg in Copenhagen and she spent summer holidays with the royal family in her parents summer residence at Gråsten Palace in Southern Jutland. On 20 April 1947, King Christian X died and Margrethes father ascended the throne as King Frederick IX. At the time of her birth, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark, as she had no brothers, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne. The process of changing the constitution started in 1947, not long after her father ascended the throne, the popularity of Frederick and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life started the complicated process of altering the constitution. The law required that the proposal be passed by two successive Parliaments and then by a referendum, which occurred 27 March 1953, Princess Margrethe therefore became heir presumptive. On her eighteenth birthday,16 April 1958, Margrethe was given a seat in the Council of State and she subsequently chaired the meetings of the Council in the absence of the King. Margrethe was educated at the private school N. Zahles School in Copenhagen from which she graduated in 1959 and she is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Queen Margrethe is fluent in Danish, French, English, Swedish and German, Princess Margrethe married a French diplomat, Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat,10 June 1967, at the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen. Laborde de Monpezat received the style and title of His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark because of his new position as the spouse of the heir presumptive to the Danish throne, Margrethe gave birth to her first child 26 May 1968

5.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

6.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’

Switzerland
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Founded in 44 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.
Switzerland
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Flag
Switzerland
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The 1291 Bundesbrief (Federal charter)
Switzerland
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The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colors are shown the subject territories.

7.
Faroese language
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It is one of five languages descended from Old West Norse spoken in the Middle Ages, the others being Norwegian, Icelandic, and the extinct Norn and Greenlandic Norse. Around 900, the language spoken in the Faroes was Old Norse, however, many of the settlers were not from Scandinavia, but descendants of Norse settlers in the Irish Sea region. In addition, women from Norse Ireland, Orkney, or Shetland often married native Scandinavian men before settling in the Faroe Islands, as a result, the Irish language has had some influence on both Faroese and Icelandic. There is some evidence of Irish language place names in the Faroes, for example. Until the 15th century Faroese had a similar to Icelandic and Norwegian. The islanders continued to use the language in ballads, folktales and this maintained a rich spoken tradition, but for 300 years the language was not used in written form. This changed when Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb and the Icelandic grammarian and politician Jón Sigurðsson published a standard for Modern Faroese in 1854. They set a standard for the orthography of the language, based on its Old Norse roots and this had the advantage of being etymologically clear, as well as keeping the kinship with the Icelandic written language. The actual pronunciation, however, often differs from the written rendering, the letter ð, for example, has no specific phoneme attached to it. Jakob Jakobsen devised a system of orthography, based on his wish for a phonetic spelling. In 1937, Faroese replaced Danish as the school language, in 1938 as the church language. However, Faroese did not become the language of media. Today Danish is considered a language, although around 5% of residents on the Faroes learn it as a first language. Old Faroese is a form of Old Norse spoken in medieval times in the Faroe Islands, the most crucial aspects of the development of Faroese are diphthongisation and palatalisation. There is not enough available to establish an accurate chronology of Faroese. Iotacism may be connected with the palatalisation of k, g and sk before Old Norse e, i, y, ø, au > /kj, ɡj, skj/ > /cç, ɟʝ, ɕcç/ > /tʃʰ, tʃ. Before the palatalisation é and ǽ merged as /ɛː/ and approximately in the same period epenthesis u is inserted into word-final /Cr/, the Great Quantity Shift operated in the 15th/16th centuries. In the case of skerping, it took place after iotacism, the shift of hv to /kw/, the deletion of /h/ in word-initial /h/–sonorant clusters, and the dissolution of þ appeared before the end of the 13th century

Faroese language
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The Sheep letter (Faroese: Seyðabrævið) is the oldest surviving document of the Faroe Islands. Written in 1298 in Old Norse, it contains some words and expressions believed to be especially Faroese.
Faroese language
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Old West Norse dialect
Faroese language
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The Famjin Stone, a Faroese runestone

8.
Armed forces
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The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their body and to defend that body. Armed force is the use of armed forces to achieve political objectives, the study of the use of armed forces is called military science. Broadly speaking, this involves considering offense and defense at three levels, strategy, operational art, and tactics, all three levels study the application of the use of force in order to achieve a desired objective. In most countries the basis of the forces is the military. However, armed forces can include other paramilitary structures, the obvious benefit to a country in maintaining armed forces is in providing protection from foreign threats and from internal conflict. In recent decades armed forces personnel have also used as emergency civil support roles in post-disaster situations. On the other hand, they may harm a society by engaging in counter-productive warfare. Expenditure on science and technology to develop weapons and systems sometimes produces side benefits, although some claim that greater benefits could come from targeting the money directly

9.
Greenland
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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, Greenland is the worlds largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480, it is the least densely populated country in the world, the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada, Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador. In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again, to strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Greenland was settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland, discovering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached Caribbean islands. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262, the Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century. Thus, the two kingdoms resources were directed at creating Copenhagen, Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814, and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark, in 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985, Greenland contains the worlds largest and most northernly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qaasuitsup and it also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources, the capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, the early Viking settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding an area and settling there, he named it Grœnland

10.
Commander-in-chief
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A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence

11.
Ministry of Defence (Denmark)
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The Danish Ministry of Defence is a ministry in the Danish government. It is the secretariat of the Danish Defence Minister, the Ministry of Defence was established following the Danish defence law of May 27,1950, about the central structure of the military of Denmark. This combined the two ministries, Ministry of War and the Marine ministry. The Minister of Defence had already created in 1905 as the head of both ministries, though still with branch chiefs as administrators. This new Ministry can though trace its history back to 1660, a similar command had previously been created for the Navy, the Admiralty of 1655. The War collegium changed name to Krigskancelliet in 1679 and later to Generalitets- og Kommisariatskollegiet, likewise Adam Wilhelm Moltke became the first Marine minister, while the Admiralty changed into the Marine ministry on April 21,1848

12.
Defence Command (Denmark)
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The Defence Command is the Danish joint military command and the top coordination and controlling authority of the Danish military. It is a Level I command authority, directly under the Ministry of Defence and it consists of the Chief of Defence and three service staffs, Operations and Planning Staffs, known collectively as Forsvarsstaben, Arctic Command and the Special Operations Command. It was a continuation of the Danish defence re-construction of 1950, the reorganization resulted in a unified command structure similar to the previous Generalkommandoen. The Danish Defence agreement 2005–09 called for another major re-construction of the Danish military, between 1973 and 2006 FKO was located in Vedbæk a little north of Lyngby, in a modern steel and concrete building, built 1970 – November 1972 by Forsvarets Bygningstjeneste. FKO moved to building in March 1973. FKO moved to Søarsenalet on Holmen naval base on July 24,2006, due to the Danish Defence Agreement 2013–17, the FKO saw major structural reorganization, to such an extent that it was renamed Værnsfælles Forsvarskommando, however retaining its name in English. The entities and authorities which were subject to the operational commands. Naval Staff in Karup – Rear Admiral Frank Trojahn, air Staff in Karup – Major General Max A. L. T. Plans, Policy and Coordination Staff in Copenhagen – Major General Flemming Lentfer, joint Operations Staff in Copenhagen – Rear Admiral Finn Hansen. Special Operations Command in Aalborg – Gen. George Høll, joint Arctic Command in Nuuk – Gen. Stig Østergaard Nielsen

Defence Command (Denmark)
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Identification symbol

13.
Danish Emergency Management Agency
–
The Danish Emergency Management Agency is a Danish governmental agency under the Ministry of Defence. DEMA works in closely structured co-operation with the EU, UN, DEMA is capable of deploying abroad on request from another state or an international organisation. The decision to render assistance is taken in co-counsel with the Danish Foreign Ministry, DEMA can give support in instances of natural disasters and accidents, technological events and crises and civil wars. It is able to react quickly in situations and leave its home base within hours on smaller missions. The Danish Emergency Management Agency was created out of the two responsible for these former services, namely Civilforsvarsstyrelsen and Statens Brandinspektion. The Civil Defence was created on 1 March 1938, as the State Civil Air Defence and was under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, the name Civil Defence dates from the first Civil Defence law of 1 April 1949. The municipal fire services and the Governmental Fire Inspection Agency was under the Ministry of Justice, the new Danish Emergency Management Agency came under the responsibility of Ministry of the Interior, however as of 1 February 2004 it is under the Ministry of Defence. When the Civil Air Defense was created the vehicles were old gray trucks, the uniform of the Civil Air Defense, and later the Civil Defense was also kept gray, with orange shoulders and blue triangles - The international icon for civil protection. The uniforms where modernized in the year 2000, and the old uniform was replaced by a new dark blue uniform. The uniform has been edited some times, and a new rescue-uniform was created in 2009 for USAR teams, the M/2000 is being replaced by a new uniform currently under development. When on international deplyment the DEMA often uses discrete civilian clothing, experiences have shown that the dark blue uniform may often be mistaken as military or police in other countries, and this has given some unfortunate situations. The only current deployment where the uniform is used is the UNIFIL deployment in Lebanon, although DEMA hasnt been called Civil Defense for more than 15 years, the general public still often refers to it as the Civil Defense, and a lot dont know what DEMA is. The primary firefighting work in Denmark are done by fire departments. Before 1992 the municipal fire department were controlled by Statens Brandinspektion, the municipalities doesnt have to do the firefighting themselves, and a large part of the fire department services are done by the private firm Falck A/S. The agency has a staff of some 600 people, about 170 of these are employed in the central Emergency Management Agency in Birkerød. The rest are employed at the six centers and two schools. It is possible to do conscription-service for the Danish military in the section of DEMA. Unlike the military where the normal length is 4 months and there are no operational tasks

Danish Emergency Management Agency
–
The Command and Communications Module is often used to support major police operations
Danish Emergency Management Agency
–
DEMA Volunteer extinguishing a car fire during a training exercise

14.
Brigade
–
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment, two or more brigades may constitute a division. Brigades formed into divisions are usually infantry or armored, in addition to combat units, they may include combat support units or sub-units, such as artillery and engineers, and logistic units or sub-units. Historically, such brigades have sometimes been called brigade-groups, on operations, a brigade may comprise both organic elements and attached elements, including some temporarily attached for a specific task. Brigades may also be specialized and comprise battalions of a branch, for example cavalry, mechanized, armored, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers. Some brigades are classified as independent or separate and operate independently from the division structure. The typical NATO standard brigade consists of approximately 3,200 to 5,500 troops, however, in Switzerland and Austria, the numbers could go as high as 11,000 troops. The Soviet Union, its forerunners and successors, mostly use regiment instead of brigade, a brigades commander is commonly a major general, brigadier general, brigadier or colonel. In some armies, the commander is rated as a General Officer, the brigade commander has a self-contained headquarters and staff. Some brigades may also have a deputy commander, the headquarters has a nucleus of staff officers and support that can vary in size depending on the type of brigade. On operations, additional specialist elements may be attached, the headquarters will usually have its own communications unit. In some gendarmerie forces, brigades are the organizational unit. The brigade as a military unit came about starting in the 15th century when the British army, as such a field army became larger, the number of subordinate commanders became unmanageable for the officer in general command of said army, usually a major general, to effectively command. In order to streamline command relationships, as well as effect some modicum of control, especially in regard to combined arms operations. The terms origin is found in two French roots, which together, meant roughly those who fight, the so-called brigada was a well-mixed unit, comprising infantry, cavalry and normally also artillery, designated for a special task. The size of such brigada ranged from a company of up to two regiments. The brigada was the forerunner of the battalion task force, battle group. The brigade was improved as a unit by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus

Brigade
–
A U.S. infantry brigade of around 3,200 personnel, formed into eight battalion -sized groups
Brigade
–
Standard NATO symbol for an infantry brigade

15.
Conscription
–
Conscription, or drafting, is the compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country. As of the early 21st century, many no longer conscript soldiers. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities, many states that have abolished conscription therefore still reserve the power to resume it during wartime or times of crisis. Around the reign of Hammurabi, the Babylonian Empire used a system of conscription called Ilkum, under that system those eligible were required to serve in the royal army in time of war. During times of peace they were required to provide labour for other activities of the state. In return for service, people subject to it gained the right to hold land. It is possible that this right was not to hold land per se, various forms of avoiding military service are recorded. While it was outlawed by the Code of Hammurabi, the hiring of substitutes appears to have practiced both before and after the creation of the code. Later records show that Ilkum commitments could become regularly traded, in other places, people simply left their towns to avoid their Ilkum service. Another option was to sell Ilkum lands and the commitments along with them, with the exception of a few exempted classes, this was forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi. The levies raised in this way fought as infantry under local superiors, although the exact laws varied greatly depending on the country and the period, generally these levies were only obliged to fight for one to three months. Most were subsistence farmers, and it was in everyones interest to send the men home for harvest-time, the bulk of the Anglo-Saxon English army, called the fyrd, was composed of part-time English soldiers drawn from the landowning minor nobility. These thegns were the aristocracy of the time and were required to serve with their own armour. Medieval levy in Poland was known as the pospolite ruszenie, the system of military slaves was widely used in the Middle East, beginning with the creation of the corps of Turkish slave-soldiers by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim in the 820s and 830s. In the middle of the 14th century, Ottoman Sultan Murad I developed personal troops to be loyal to him, the new force was built by taking Christian children from newly conquered lands, especially from the far areas of his empire, in a system known as the devşirme

Conscription
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Ottoman janissaries
Conscription
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Conscription of Poles to the Russian Army in 1863.
Conscription
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Young men registering for conscription during World War I, New York City, June 5, 1917.
Conscription
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Soviet conscripts. Moscow, 1941.

16.
Ministry of Defence of Denmark
–
The Danish Ministry of Defence is a ministry in the Danish government. It is the secretariat of the Danish Defence Minister, the Ministry of Defence was established following the Danish defence law of May 27,1950, about the central structure of the military of Denmark. This combined the two ministries, Ministry of War and the Marine ministry. The Minister of Defence had already created in 1905 as the head of both ministries, though still with branch chiefs as administrators. This new Ministry can though trace its history back to 1660, a similar command had previously been created for the Navy, the Admiralty of 1655. The War collegium changed name to Krigskancelliet in 1679 and later to Generalitets- og Kommisariatskollegiet, likewise Adam Wilhelm Moltke became the first Marine minister, while the Admiralty changed into the Marine ministry on April 21,1848

Ministry of Defence of Denmark
–
Ministry of Defence

17.
Danish Maritime Safety Administration
–
The Danish Maritime Safety Administration was a department of the Danish Ministry of Defence with administration located in Christianshavn, Copenhagen. DaMSA operated throughout Denmark as part of the Danish Search and Rescue organization that runs 21 rescue stations located along the coasts of Denmark. Responsibilities of DaMSA included authorizing navigation systems and buoyage, resolving issues concerning wrecks and their salvage in Danish waters, DaMSA was a full member of the North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System. During the late 1970s and 1980s, the name Farvandsdirektoratet was changed to Farvandsvæsenet, Farvandsdirektoratet remained a used and accepted name. In 1987 the Royal Danish Nautical charts archive was detached for merger with the National Survey, all of these services have a long history on their own, reaching back to 1560. On 1 April 2008 Farvandsvæsenet changed its English name from Royal Danish Administration of Navigation, farvandsvaesenet occupied the buildings named Søkvæsthuset and Bakkehuset. Bakkehuset is known for housing the Danish poet Johan Ludvig Heiberg, the mission of the Danish Maritime Safety Administration was to assure the safety of navigation at sea in Danish, Faroese and Greenlandic waters. DaMSA was a member of the SeaDataNet European Directory of Marine Organizations, providing bathymetric measurements in Danish, five surveying ships are present working in Danish waters, all equipped with a shallow water multibeam system. Two surveying ships are stationed in Greenland with working area on the west coast, the Maritime Safety Administration was abolished by royal decree of 3 October 2011. Farvandsvæsenet home page History of Søkvæsthuset from Christianshavn Archives

18.
Danish National Rescue Preparedness
–
The Danish Emergency Management Agency is a Danish governmental agency under the Ministry of Defence. DEMA works in closely structured co-operation with the EU, UN, DEMA is capable of deploying abroad on request from another state or an international organisation. The decision to render assistance is taken in co-counsel with the Danish Foreign Ministry, DEMA can give support in instances of natural disasters and accidents, technological events and crises and civil wars. It is able to react quickly in situations and leave its home base within hours on smaller missions. The Danish Emergency Management Agency was created out of the two responsible for these former services, namely Civilforsvarsstyrelsen and Statens Brandinspektion. The Civil Defence was created on 1 March 1938, as the State Civil Air Defence and was under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, the name Civil Defence dates from the first Civil Defence law of 1 April 1949. The municipal fire services and the Governmental Fire Inspection Agency was under the Ministry of Justice, the new Danish Emergency Management Agency came under the responsibility of Ministry of the Interior, however as of 1 February 2004 it is under the Ministry of Defence. When the Civil Air Defense was created the vehicles were old gray trucks, the uniform of the Civil Air Defense, and later the Civil Defense was also kept gray, with orange shoulders and blue triangles - The international icon for civil protection. The uniforms where modernized in the year 2000, and the old uniform was replaced by a new dark blue uniform. The uniform has been edited some times, and a new rescue-uniform was created in 2009 for USAR teams, the M/2000 is being replaced by a new uniform currently under development. When on international deplyment the DEMA often uses discrete civilian clothing, experiences have shown that the dark blue uniform may often be mistaken as military or police in other countries, and this has given some unfortunate situations. The only current deployment where the uniform is used is the UNIFIL deployment in Lebanon, although DEMA hasnt been called Civil Defense for more than 15 years, the general public still often refers to it as the Civil Defense, and a lot dont know what DEMA is. The primary firefighting work in Denmark are done by fire departments. Before 1992 the municipal fire department were controlled by Statens Brandinspektion, the municipalities doesnt have to do the firefighting themselves, and a large part of the fire department services are done by the private firm Falck A/S. The agency has a staff of some 600 people, about 170 of these are employed in the central Emergency Management Agency in Birkerød. The rest are employed at the six centers and two schools. It is possible to do conscription-service for the Danish military in the section of DEMA. Unlike the military where the normal length is 4 months and there are no operational tasks

Danish National Rescue Preparedness
–
The Command and Communications Module is often used to support major police operations
Danish National Rescue Preparedness
–
Beredskabsstyrelsen
Danish National Rescue Preparedness
–
DEMA Volunteer extinguishing a car fire during a training exercise

19.
Nordic countries
–
The Nordic countries or Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden. They consist of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, the population of the Nordic countries are mainly Scandinavian or Finnish, with Greenlandic Inuit and the Sami people as minorities. Of todays native languages, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, the non-Germanic languages spoken are Finnish, Greenlandic and several Sami languages. The main religion is Lutheran Christianity, the Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure. Politically, Nordic countries do not form an entity. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand covers mainland Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland. At 3,425,804 square kilometers, the area of the Nordic countries would form the 7th-largest country in the world. Uninhabitable icecaps and glaciers comprise about half of area, mostly in Greenland. In January 2013, the region had a population of around 26 million people, the Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated groups, the common linguistic heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The North Germanic languages Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible and these languages are taught in school throughout the Nordic countries. Swedish, for example, is a subject in Finnish schools. Danish is mandatory in Faroese and Greenlandic schools, as these states are a part of the Danish Realm. Iceland also teaches Danish, since Iceland too was a part of the Danish Realm until 1918, there is a high degree of income redistribution and little social unrest. The Nordic countries consists of historical territories of the Scandinavian countries, areas that share a common history and it is meant unambiguously to refer to this larger group, since the term Scandinavia is narrower and sometimes ambiguous. The Nordic countries are considered to unambiguously refer to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The term is derived indirectly from the local term Norden, used in the Scandinavian languages, unlike the Nordic countries, the term Norden is in the singular. The demonym is nordbo, literally meaning northern dweller, especially outside of the Nordic region the term Scandinavia is often used incorrectly as a synonym for the Nordic countries

20.
Conscientious objector
–
A conscientious objector is an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. In general, conscientious objector status is considered only in the context of military conscription and is not applicable to military forces. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to a civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, non-aggressionist and this was re-affirmed in 1998, when resolution 1998/77 recognized that persons performing military service may develop conscientious objections. A number of organizations around the world celebrate the principle on May 15 as International Conscientious Objectors Day, the term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. Historically, many conscientious objectors have been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise penalized when their beliefs led to conflicting with their societys legal system or government. The legal definition and status of conscientious objection has varied over the years, Religious beliefs were a starting point in many nations for legally granting conscientious objector status. An early recognition of conscientious objection was granted by William the Silent to the Dutch Mennonites in 1575 and they could refuse military service in exchange for a monetary payment. Formal legislation to exempt objectors from fighting was first granted in mid-18th century Great Britain following problems with attempting to force Quakers into military service. In the United States, conscientious objection was permitted from the countrys founding, in 1948, the issue of the right to conscience was dealt with by the United Nations General Assembly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour,0 against and it is The Right to Refuse to Kill. In 1976, the United Nations treaty the International Covenant on Civil and it was based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was originally created in 1966. Nations that have signed this treaty are bound by it and its Article 18 begins, Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Some states argue that such limitations would permit them to make conscientious objection during time of war a threat to public safety, even that it is a moral duty to serve the state in its military. In 2006, the Committee has found for the first time a right to conscientious objection under article 18, in 1998, the Human Rights Commission reiterated previous statements and added states should. Refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors. to repeated punishment for failure to perform military service, the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states,171. Not every conviction, genuine though it may be, will constitute a sufficient reason for claiming refugee status after desertion or draft-evasion and it is not enough for a person to be in disagreement with his government regarding the political justification for a particular military action. Air Commodore Lionel Charlton, of the British Royal Air Force, in 1923 he selectively refused to serve in the RAF Iraq Command

Conscientious objector
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"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... They never called me nigger." – Muhammad Ali, 1966
Conscientious objector
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Conscientious Objector memorial in Tavistock Square Gardens, London — dedicated on 15 May 1994
Conscientious objector
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John T. Neufeld was a Mennonite World War I conscientious objector sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the military prison at Leavenworth. He was paroled to do dairy work and released after serving five months of his sentence. His diary of army and prison life is published in a collection with three other WWI Mennonite conscientious objectors.
Conscientious objector
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Civilian Public Service firefighting crew at Snowline Camp near Camino, California, 1945.

21.
Amphibious warfare
–
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted using ships boats as the method of delivering troops to shore. Amphibious warfare includes operations defined by their type, purpose, scale, all armed forces that employ troops with special training and equipment for conducting landings from naval vessels to shore agree to this definition. Since the 20th century an amphibious landing of troops on a beachhead is acknowledged as the most complex of all military maneuvers, an amphibious operation is both similar and different in many ways to both land, naval and air operations. Historically, within the scope of these phases a vital part of success was based on the military logistics, naval gunfire. Another factor is the variety and quantity of specialised vehicles and equipment used by the force that are designed for the specific needs of this type of operation. The purpose of operations is always offensive, but limited by the plan. Landings on islands less than 5,000 km2 in size are tactical, usually with the objectives of neutralising enemy defenders. Such an operation may be prepared and planned in days or weeks, a strategic landing operation requires a major commitment of forces to invade a national territory in the archipelagic, such as the Battle of Leyte, or continental, such as Operation Neptune. Such an operation may require multiple naval and air fleets to support the landings, although most amphibious operations are thought of primarily as beach landings, they can take exploit available shore infrastructure to land troops directly into an urban environment if unopposed. In this case non-specialised ships can offload troops, vehicles and cargo using organic or facility wharf-side equipment, tactical landings in the past have utilised small boats, small craft, small ships and civilian vessels converted for the mission to deliver troops to the waters edge. Preparation and planning the naval landing operation requires the assembly of vessels with sufficient capacity to lift necessary troops employing combat loading, the military intelligence services produce a briefing on the expected opponent which guides the organisation and equipping of the embarked force. First specially designed landing craft were used for the Gallipoli landings, helicopters were first used to support beach landings during Operation Musketeer. Hovercraft have been in use for naval landings by military forces since the 1960s, recorded amphibious warfare goes back to ancient times. The Sea Peoples menaced the Egyptians from the reign of Akhenaten as captured on the reliefs at Medinet Habu, the Hellenic city states routinely resorted to opposed assaults upon each others shores, which they reflected upon in their plays and other expressions of art. In 1565, the island of Malta was invaded by the Ottoman Turks during the Great Siege of Malta, forcing its defenders to retreat to the fortified cities. A strategic choke point in the Mediterranean Sea, its loss would have been so menacing for the Western European kingdoms that forces were raised in order to relieve the island. But it took four months to train, arm, and move a 5, then, Philip II, King of Spain decided to train and assign amphibious-assault skilled units to the Royal Armada

Amphibious warfare
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Two USMCAAVS emerge from the surf at Freshwater Bay, Australia.
Amphibious warfare
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South Korean Type 88 K1 MBT comes ashore from an American LCAC in March 2007.
Amphibious warfare
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Mexican sailors, landing in 2010
Amphibious warfare
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The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the 1066 Norman amphibious invasion of England with a force of some 8,000 infantry and heavy cavalry.

22.
Arctic
–
The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places, the Arctic region is a unique area among Earths ecosystems. For example, the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold, in recent years, Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word ἀρκτικός, near the Bear, northern, there are a number of definitions of what area is contained within the Arctic. The area can be defined as north of the Arctic Circle, the southern limit of the midnight sun. The Arctics climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers and its precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow and is low, with most of the area receiving less than 50 cm. High winds often stir up snow, creating the illusion of continuous snowfall, average winter temperatures can be as low as −40 °C, and the coldest recorded temperature is approximately −68 °C. Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures, the Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws. Due to the migration of the planets isotherms, the Arctic region is currently shrinking. Perhaps the most spectacular result of Arctic shrinkage is sea ice loss, there is a large variance in predictions of Arctic sea ice loss, with models showing near-complete to complete loss in September from 2040 to some time well beyond 2100. About half of the models show near-complete to complete sea ice loss in September by the year 2100. Arctic life is characterized by adaptation to short growing seasons with long periods of sunlight, Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra. As one moves northward, the amount of available for plant growth decreases considerably. Colder summer temperatures cause the size, abundance, productivity and variety of plants to decrease, trees cannot grow in the Arctic, but in its warmest parts, shrubs are common and can reach 2 m in height, sedges, mosses and lichens can form thick layers. In the coldest parts of the Arctic, much of the ground is bare, non-vascular plants such as lichens and mosses predominate, along with a few scattered grasses, herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou. They are preyed on by the owl, Arctic fox, Grizzly bear

23.
Kosovo Force
–
The Kosovo Force is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-led international peacekeeping force which was responsible for establishing a secure environment in Kosovo. KFOR entered Kosovo on 12 June 1999, two days after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, at the time, Kosovo was facing a grave humanitarian crisis, with military forces from the FRY and the KLA in daily engagement. According to NATO, Serb forces had committed ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians, nearly one million people had fled Kosovo as refugees. KFOR has gradually transferred responsibilities to the Kosovo Police and other local authorities, as of 23 May 2016, KFOR consisted of 4,600 troops. The Contact Group countries have said publicly that KFOR will remain in Kosovo to provide the security necessary to support the provisions of a settlement of Kosovos status. KFOR contingents were originally grouped into 4 regionally based multinational brigades, the brigades were responsible for a specific area of operations, but under a single chain of command under the authority of Commander KFOR. At its height, KFOR troops numbered 50,000 and came from 39 different NATO and non-NATO nations, the official KFOR website indicated that in 2008 a total 14,000 soldiers from 34 countries were participating in KFOR. The following is a list of the number of troops which have participated in the KFOR mission. According to Amnesty International, most women trafficked into Kosovo from abroad are from Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, since the KFOR entered Kosovo in June 1999,168 NATO soldiers have been killed, mostly in accidents. On 19 October 2004, it was confirmed that 115 NATO soldiers had killed during the operation. After that 50 more NATO soldiers were confirmed to have died, eight UNMIK police officers have been killed in Kosovo since 1999, in addition to the KFOR fatalities. The fatalities by country are,3 American,1 Indian,1 Jordanian,1 Nigerian,1 Ghanaian and 1 Ukrainian police officer, in July 2011, following the Kosovo Polices attempts to seize two border outposts and consequent clashes that followed, KFOR troops intervened. In 2013, KFOR was involved in an operation of the last restaurant bears in Kosovo. The bears are now kept at the Bear Sanctuary Prishtina, KFOR Placemap KFOR official site K-For, The task ahead First deaths in K-For operation Memorial honors soldiers sacrifices June 2002,68 soldiers have died since KFOR entered Kosovo. Nato force feeds Kosovo sex trade Radio KFOR

24.
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
–
Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny, GCB, MC was a notable French military commander during World War I and even more so in World War II and the First Indochina War. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was posthumously promoted to Marshal of France, during the Interwar period, he took part in campaigns in Morocco where he was wounded in action again. He then pursued a career in the staff headquarters and command of regiments. During the Vichy Regime, he remained in the Armistice Army, nevertheless, he managed to escape and rallied Free France at end of 1943. He was the only French general of World War II to command large numbers of American troops and he was the French representative at Berlin on May 8,1945, with Eisenhower, Zhukov and Montgomery. From 1948 to 1950 with Field Marshal Montgomery, he was the first commander-in-chief of Ground Forces in Western Europe, in 1951, he was the High Commissioner, commander-in-chief in Indochina and commander-in-chief of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps. He was elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France posthumously in 1952 during his national funeral, born at Mouilleron-en-Pareds, in the same village of World War I leader Georges Clemenceau, to an aristocratic family. From 1898 to 1904, he prepared for the French Naval School and he was a candidate in Saint-Cyr from 1909 to 1911 in the Mauritanie promotion where he ranked 5th in his class. Subsequently, he entered the school at Saumur. In 1912, he was a sous-lieutenant assigned to the 12th Dragoon Regiment and he was wounded for the first time on August 11,1914, by a shrapnel munition blast during a reconnaissance mission. On September 14, he was wounded again from a lance coming from an Uhlan while leading the charge of his dragoon platoon, weakened by his wound, he was saved from captivity by an officer of the 5th Hussard Regiment. Consequently, he was assigned to the 2nd bureau of general staff headquarters of the 21st Infantry Division. In 1919, he was assigned to the Franco-American section at Brodeaux, from 1921 to 1926, he was sent to Morocco and took part in various campaign battles where he was wounded in operations, received 3 citations and was promoted to the rank of Chef de battaillon. From 1927 to 1929, he pursued courses at the War College. In 1928, he was assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment, in 1931, he was assigned to the bureau of the Chief of the Defence Staff, post ranked as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he was assigned to the general headquarters staff of général Maxime Weygand. During this tenure, he was tasked mainly with following foreign international policies, internal politics, with the retirement of Weygand who was reached by the age limit, he was carefully maintained in the general headquarters staff of général Alphonse Joseph Georges. In 1935, he was promoted to regimental commander of the 151st Infantry Regiment. Between 1937 and 1938, he pursued courses at the center for higher studies and became in 1938

25.
Aegean Sea
–
The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, i. e. between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles, the Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea was known as Archipelago, but in English this words meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally. In ancient times, there were various explanations for the name Aegean, a possible etymology is a derivation from the Greek word αἶγες – aiges = waves, hence wavy sea, cf. also αἰγιαλός, hence meaning sea-shore. The Venetians, who ruled many Greek islands in the High and Late Middle Ages, popularized the name Archipelago, in some South Slavic languages the Aegean is often called White Sea. The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres in area, the seas maximum depth is 3,543 metres, east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south, Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos, many of the Aegean Islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Aegean Sea as follows, On the South. In the Dardanelles. A line joining Kum Kale and Cape Helles, the dense Mediterranean water sinks below the Black Sea inflow to a depth of 23–30 metres, then flows through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara at velocities of 5–15 cm/s. The Black Sea outflow moves westward along the northern Aegean Sea, Aegean Sea Intermediate Water – Aegean Sea Intermediate Water extends from 40–50 m to 200–300 metres with temperatures ranging from 11–18 °C. Aegean Sea Bottom Water – occurring at depths below 500–1000 m with a uniform temperature. The current coastline dates back to about 4000 BC, before that time, at the peak of the last ice age sea levels everywhere were 130 metres lower, and there were large well-watered coastal plains instead of much of the northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the islands including Milos with its important obsidian production were probably still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared c.7000 BC, with post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that, the subsequent Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise to the general term Aegean civilization. In ancient times, the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations – the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenean Civilization of the Peloponnese, later arose the city-states of Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the Athenian Empire and Hellenic Civilization. Plato described the Greeks living round the Aegean like frogs around a pond, the Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoese, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the democracies, and its seaways were the means of contact among several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean. Many of the islands in the Aegean have safe harbours and bays, in ancient times, navigation through the sea was easier than travelling across the rough terrain of the Greek mainland

26.
Human trafficking
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Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy, Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the rights of movement through coercion. Human trafficking is the trade in people, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another, according to the International Labour Organization, forced labor alone generates an estimated $150 billion in profits per annum as of 2014. Estimated that 21 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery, of these,14.2 million were exploited for labor,4.5 million were sexually exploited, and 2.2 million were exploited in state-imposed forced labor. Human trafficking is thought to be one of the activities of trans-national criminal organizations. Human trafficking is condemned as a violation of rights by international conventions. In addition, human trafficking is subject to a directive in the European Union, the protocol is one of three which supplement the CTOC. The Trafficking Protocol is the first global, legally binding instrument on trafficking in over half a century, one of its purposes is to facilitate international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting such trafficking. Another is to protect and assist human traffickings victims with full respect for their rights as established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 2014, the International Labour Organization estimated $150 billion in annual profit is generated from forced labor alone. The average cost of a trafficking victim today is USD $90,000 which. The average slave in 1800 America was the equivalent to USD $40,000, though illegal, there may be no deception or coercion involved. After entry into the country and arrival at their ultimate destination, Human trafficking, on the other hand, is a crime against a person because of the violation of the victims rights through coercion and exploitation. Unlike most cases of smuggling, victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination. While smuggling requires travel, trafficking does not, trafficked people are held against their will through acts of coercion, and forced to work for or provide services to the trafficker or others. The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercial sexual exploitation, the arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment, or on terms which are highly exploitative. Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the not being permitted or able to pay off the debt. Bonded labor, or debt bondage, is probably the least known form of labor trafficking today, generally, the value of their work is greater than the original sum of money borrowed

27.
UNMISS
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The United Nations Mission in South Sudan is the newest United Nations peacekeeping mission for the recently independent Republic of South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996, UNMISS is since December 2016 headed by Special Representative of the Secretary-General David Shearer who succeeded Ellen Margrethe Løj. As of August 2015, it is composed of 12,523 total personnel,11,350 military and it is headquartered in the South Sudanese capital Juba. The mission was established by Security Council Resolution 1996 and extended to 15 July 2013 by Resolution 2057, india has supplied 2,237 troops, the Deputy Force Commander is Indias Brigadier General Asit Mistry, while the force commander is Ghanas Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi. In a July 2012 speech, a day after the extension of the mission, Johnson discussed the missions protection of civilians and the documenting and verification of incidents. On 21 December 2012, a civilian UNMISS helicopter was shot down over Jonglei State, five people, including four Russian crewmembers, on board the aircraft were killed. On 9 April, five Indian UNMISS troops and seven civilian UN employees were killed in an ambush in Jonglei while escorting a UN convoy between Pibor and Bor. Nine further UN employees, both military and civilian, were wounded and some remain missing, four of the civilians killed were Kenyan contractors working to drill water boreholes. One of the soldiers was a lieutenant-colonel and one of the wounded was a captain. According to South Sudans military spokesman, the convoy was attacked by David Yau Yaus rebel forces that they believe are supported by the Sudanese government, UNMISS said that 200 armed men were involved in the attack and that their convoy was escorted by 32 Indian UN peacekeepers. The attackers were equipped with rocket propelled grenades, a UN spokesman said that the fierce resistance put up by Indian peacekeepers forced the rebels to withdraw and saved the lives of many of the civilians. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the killings a war crime, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Anthony Banbury praised the bravery of the Indian soldiers. Indias Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, paid his tribute to the brave soldiers, about 2,200 Indian Army personnel are deployed in South Sudan as a part of the UNMISS mission. Fighting that spread as a result of the 2013 South Sudanese coup détat attempt led to the deaths of two Indian peacekeepers, while another soldier was wounded in Akobo, Jonglei, on 19 December. On 24 December, the UNSC voted to double the existing 7,600 troops in the mission. Following this incident President Salva Kiir accused the UN of sheltering armed opposition forces in their UN Mission, Salva Kiir also accused the UN of an attempted take over of his leadership. On Thursday 17 April 2014,58 people were killed and at least 100 people wounded when a mob stormed the UN base in Bor. A crowd of people who pretended they were visiting the base to present a peaceful petition opened fire on some of the 5,000 civilians who had taken shelter in the UN base, of those killed,48 were civilians, while 10 were among the attackers

UNMISS
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A New Zealand Army officer assigned to UNMISS with a member of the Sudan People's Liberation Army and a civilian in March 2012.
UNMISS
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United Nations Mission in South Sudan
UNMISS
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JGSDF soldiers work on pouring cement out from an excavator in an engineering operation.

28.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations

29.
UAE
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In 2013, the UAEs population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. The country is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on 2 December 1971, the constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a monarch, together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates, Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language. The UAEs oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the worlds seventeenth-largest, Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first President of the UAE, oversaw the development of the Emirates and steered oil revenues into healthcare, education and infrastructure. The UAEs economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city, nevertheless, the country remains principally reliant on its export of petroleum and natural gas. The UAE is criticised for its rights record, including the specific interpretations of Sharia used in its legal system. The UAEs rising international profile has led analysts to identify it as a regional. It appears the land of the Emirates has been occupied for thousands of years, there is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time it developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and Iran. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, in ancient times, Al Hasa was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman. Sassanid groups were present on the Batinah coast, in 637, Julfar was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sassanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tuam and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, a monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 AD, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 AD and it forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 AD following trade routes. Certainly, by the 5th century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 AD. This led to a group of travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids. Following the death of Prophet Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. The Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory with the battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost

UAE
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Dubai in 1950; the area in this photo shows Bur Dubai in the foreground (centered on Al-Fahidi Fort); Deira in middle-right on the other side of the creek; and Al Shindagha (left) and Al Ras (right) in the background across the creek again from Deira
UAE
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Flag
UAE
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Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the first President of UAE.
UAE
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View of Sharjah city

30.
Nigerian Navy
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The Nigerian Navy is a branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The Nigerian Navy is among the largest Navies on the African continent, consisting of several thousand personnel, the Nigerian Navy owes its origin to the Nigerian Marine. Formed in 1914 after the amalgamation of the then Northern and Southern Nigeria and this force expanded to become the Southern Nigerian Marine in 1893. A Northern Nigeria equivalent was formed in 1900, the two Marines were merged in 1914. The responsibilities of the Marine included administration of the ports and harbours, dredging of channels, bouyage and it also operated ferry services, touring launches, and other small craft that plied the various creeks and other inland waterways. The first of new organizations was the Nigerian Ports Authority. The second organisation was the Inland Waterways Department, which took over the running of ferries and its primary responsibility was to train the personnel and set up the appropriate infrastructure necessary for the planned Navy. The first basic training establishment for the future Navy - the HMNS QUORRA - was started on 1 November 1957 with 60 junior ratings, who underwent a 6-month basic seamanship course. In July 1959, the Nigerian Naval Force was transformed into a full-fledged Navy when Queen Elizabeth granted permission for the Force to use the title ‘Royal Nigerian Navy’, the title was changed to the ‘Nigerian Navy’ in 1963 after Nigeria became a republic. The constitutional task of the Navy was expanded in 1964 after the repeal of the 1958 Ordinance, the new law, known as the Navy Act of 1964, for the first time tasked the Navy with the “naval defence of Nigeria. These tasks were essentially routine functions of any Navy, consequently, the naval leadership began to mount pressure on the political leadership to re-define the constitutional role of the Navy. In 1993, this yielded the desired result and under a new law. The Navy was given expanded military and constabulary roles, especially in the oil, the Naval Headquarters is the administrative and policy-making organ of the Nigerian Navy. At its head is the Chief of the Naval Staff, who exercises full command of the NN, the CNS has seven staff branches in addition to the Office of the Navy Secretary. The staff branches are, Policy and Plans, Training and Operations, Administration, Naval Engineering, Logistics, Accounts and Budget and these branches are headed by Principal Staff Officers of flag rank. The Chief of the Naval Staff is the highest ranking officer of the Nigerian Navy. The Statutory duty of the Officer is to formulate and execute policies towards the highest attainment of National Security, the current Chief of Naval Staff is Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas who was appointed on July 13,2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari to succeeded Usman Oyibe Jibrin. Table below is a chronological list of officers holding the position of Chief of the Naval Staff, the Western Naval Command HQ is located at Apapa in Lagos

31.
Conscientious objection
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A conscientious objector is an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. In general, conscientious objector status is considered only in the context of military conscription and is not applicable to military forces. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to a civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, non-aggressionist and this was re-affirmed in 1998, when resolution 1998/77 recognized that persons performing military service may develop conscientious objections. A number of organizations around the world celebrate the principle on May 15 as International Conscientious Objectors Day, the term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. Historically, many conscientious objectors have been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise penalized when their beliefs led to conflicting with their societys legal system or government. The legal definition and status of conscientious objection has varied over the years, Religious beliefs were a starting point in many nations for legally granting conscientious objector status. An early recognition of conscientious objection was granted by William the Silent to the Dutch Mennonites in 1575 and they could refuse military service in exchange for a monetary payment. Formal legislation to exempt objectors from fighting was first granted in mid-18th century Great Britain following problems with attempting to force Quakers into military service. In the United States, conscientious objection was permitted from the countrys founding, in 1948, the issue of the right to conscience was dealt with by the United Nations General Assembly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour,0 against and it is The Right to Refuse to Kill. In 1976, the United Nations treaty the International Covenant on Civil and it was based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was originally created in 1966. Nations that have signed this treaty are bound by it and its Article 18 begins, Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Some states argue that such limitations would permit them to make conscientious objection during time of war a threat to public safety, even that it is a moral duty to serve the state in its military. In 2006, the Committee has found for the first time a right to conscientious objection under article 18, in 1998, the Human Rights Commission reiterated previous statements and added states should. Refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors. to repeated punishment for failure to perform military service, the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states,171. Not every conviction, genuine though it may be, will constitute a sufficient reason for claiming refugee status after desertion or draft-evasion and it is not enough for a person to be in disagreement with his government regarding the political justification for a particular military action. Air Commodore Lionel Charlton, of the British Royal Air Force, in 1923 he selectively refused to serve in the RAF Iraq Command

Conscientious objection
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"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... They never called me nigger." – Muhammad Ali, 1966
Conscientious objection
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Conscientious Objector memorial in Tavistock Square Gardens, London — dedicated on 15 May 1994
Conscientious objection
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John T. Neufeld was a Mennonite World War I conscientious objector sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the military prison at Leavenworth. He was paroled to do dairy work and released after serving five months of his sentence. His diary of army and prison life is published in a collection with three other WWI Mennonite conscientious objectors.
Conscientious objection
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Civilian Public Service firefighting crew at Snowline Camp near Camino, California, 1945.

32.
Scandinavian defence union
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A Scandinavian defence union between Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark was planned after the end of World War II. The four governments agreed that integration in the area of defence was needed, although specific arrangements, Finland had fought two wars, the Winter War and the Continuation War, against the Soviet Union, and also one minor war, the Lapland War, against Nazi Germany. Before these wars Finland had close relations with the Scandinavian countries, however, as the country shared 1,300 kilometres of border with the USSR, the position of the Soviet Union could not be ignored in Finnish politics. Regarding the Finnish membership in the Scandinavian defence union, far reaching discussions at state-level were made with the candidate countries. These discussions were ended, when Sweden made a specific requirement. The Soviet answer was negative and Finland stayed neutral. Interestingly, the YYA treaty did not stop the Soviet Union from creating the Warsaw Pact in 1955, the other three Scandinavian countries would, if they had entered into an alliance, have remained separate sovereign countries but acted as a single bloc in foreign policy and security issues. Denmark was still willing to enter into an alliance with Sweden, but the Swedes saw few advantages in this, Norway and Denmark subsequently became signatory parties of the North Atlantic Treaty and members of NATO. Sweden chose not to join NATO, despite a fierce debate on the issue, one of the strongest proponents was Herbert Tingsten, editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter, the largest newspaper in Sweden, who used editorials to argue why Sweden should join. He found an opponent in the foreign minister of the time Östen Undén. The position of Sweden as a member of the world was not in doubt. Whilst not a union, the Nordic Battlegroup is a multi-national military unit. It is one of eighteen European Union Battlegroups that support European Union defence and it consists of around 2,500 troops from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Military of Denmark Military of Finland Military of Norway Military of Sweden Scandinavism Swedish neutrality

33.
Kingdom of Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government

Kingdom of Denmark
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The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot dating from the Nordic Bronze Age.
Kingdom of Denmark
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Flag
Kingdom of Denmark
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The Ladby ship, the largest ship burial found in Denmark.
Kingdom of Denmark
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Larger of the two Jelling stones, raised by Harald Bluetooth.

34.
Royal Danish Naval Academy
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The Royal Danish Naval Academy educates and commissions all officers for the Royal Danish Navy. Having existed in more than 300 years, it is the oldest still-existing officers academy in the world, all aspirants begin their education with 6 months of basic military training and general seamanship. Parts of this at the Naval NCO and Basic Training School near Frederikshavn and this goes to both aspirants that begin their education without prior military service and those who are recruited among enlisted and petty officers. Then follows an intensified NCO-training for another 6 months, if these periods are completed and passed, then the aspirant will move onto the Naval Academy. Here follows the education for the two functional lines, at this time, the aspirant becomes a cadet. After 5-5½ years of training and education from the start the aspirant is commissioned as an officer. Besides career-officers, the academy also trains civilian licensed marine engineers and first officers. This training-period is 11 months for first officers, and 14 months for engineers, the naval academy also runs the junior staff officers course. This course runs for 11 months, and requires satisfactory service as an OF-1,26 February 1701, King Frederick IV approves the creation of the Søe Cadet Compagni. Inspiration for the Company was found in the Netherlands and France, the creation of this Company was also the foundation of the second academic education facility in Denmark, preceded only by the University of Copenhagen. The educational facility initially was located at Bremerholm, close to Holmens Kirke,26 April 1701, Commodore C. T. Sehested adjourns as the first chief of Søe Cadet Compagniet. 1709, The Søe Cadet Compagniet is renamed the Søe Cadet Academy,1727, The Academy is removed to the twenty-three-year-old opera house. 1788, The Academy is removed to the palace of Amalienborg Palace. 1827, The Academy is removed to the Søbøtkerske mansion, on the corner of Bredgade, the mansion itself no longer stands, but a bookstore is now located at the site. 1865, The Academy is removed to the administrative complex of the naval artillery on Christiansholm. These buildings do still exist, they now house the Danish naval museum Orlogsmuseet,1869, The Søe Cadet Academiet is renamed the Søofficersskolen and is removed to a facility at Gernersgade, in Nyboder. This facility was built in 1856, originally to house a girls school, today, the building houses several companies. 1903, The Søofficersskolen is renamed the Kadetskolen,1946, The School is removed to its current buildings, on Holmen naval base

Royal Danish Naval Academy
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Entrance to the academy

35.
Guard Hussar Regiment (Denmark)
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The Guard Hussar Regiment is a special cavalry unit of the Royal Danish Army, the primary task is to train the Guard Hussars for various functions in the mobilisation force. The motto of the regiment is in Latin, In actis esto volucris, from 1961 to 1972 the regiment was responsible for two armoured battalions, one recon battalion and three infantry battalions. From 1972–2000 the regiment was responsible for one armoured, one mechanised infantry, one reconnaissance, from 2000–2004 the regiment was responsible for two armoured, two mechanised infantry, one reconnaissance and two infantry battalions. From 1992–2004 the regiment also had to form two light Reconnaissance Squadrons assigned to the Brigades

36.
Jutland Dragoon Regiment
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The regimental fusion eventually necessitated a relocation to Holstebro in 1953, where the Dragoons have remained ever since. The battle, known as Operation Bøllebank, was characterized by the commander at the time as the time when the mouse ate the cat. The three armoured battalions were assigned to different brigades, the battalion and later one armoured battalion as independent battalions in Danish Division. From 1992−2004 the regiment also had to form three light reconnaissance squadrons assigned to three of the five brigades, with the three infantry battalions and regimental staff, in war time, the regiment could form a battlegroup, with combat support/artillery troops from other regiments. The regiment today serves only in its role as well as in an educational role for new conscripts. The regiments tank battalion won the Top 120mm Fire Team category at the Ex Worthington 16 competition, held at CFB Gagetown, the lion and its red hearts are also a symbol of Jutland and are featured on the stern of Fregatten Jylland

Jutland Dragoon Regiment
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Insignia

37.
Signal Regiment (Denmark)
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The Signal Regiment is a regiment of the Royal Danish Army. It was established in 1951 with the purpose of training and equipping units to support the Danish army with wartime Command, Control and Communications. The units filled by the regiment sets up the command, control, the network is designed to be secure, encrypted and difficult to neutralize. Besides the radio network, the regiment also establishes mobile military headquarters to be used by the army, the history of the signal regiment dates back to 1867, when the first Danish signal unit was formed, the 4th Engineering Coy. On January 1,1914 the company gained status of a battalion in the Engineering Regiment, on November 1,1947 the Ministry of Defence decided to move the signal battalion from the engineering regiment to serving directly under the Generalkommandoen. The result was the worlds first independent signal unit, the signal battalion was later split into two battalions. On November 1,1951 the two battalions were given regimental status and named Sjællandske Telegrafregiment and Jyske Telegrafregiment, Sjællandske Telegrafregiment was attached to LAND FORCES COMMAND EAST and Jyske Telegrafregiment was attached to LAND FORCES COMMAND WEST. In 1989, as the Cold War drew to a close and this decision was effected on January 1,1992 and the new regiment was named Telegrafregimentet. In Fredericia, the regiment has two barracks, Bülows Kaserne and Ryes Kaserne, Bülows Kaserne is home to the school, and serves as regimental Headquarter. Bülows Kaserne is placed in historical buildings inside the walls of the fortress town. Ryes Kaserne is home to the 2nd Training Battalion, 3rd Signal Battalion, Ryes Kaserne was built in the 1960s and borders Hyby Fælled Proving ground. Haderslev Kaserne is home to the 5th Signal Battalion, HQCOY/1st Brigade, besides the two bases, the regiment operates Hyby Fælled Proving Ground outside Fredericia. The proving ground is open for the public

38.
Danish Task Group
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Danish Task Group, is a Danish naval unit, tasked with commanding, educating and training maritime forces in peace, crisis and war. It is a unit that is experienced in orchestrating exercises, organising insertions and commanding naval, aerial. Danish Task Group was created to expand Denmarks level of competency and quality of material, as such Danish Task Group has been commanding combined maritime forces in both exercises and operations a number of times. Home page of Danish Task Group

Danish Task Group
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The logo (but not escutcheon) of Danish Task Group

39.
Eskadrille 724
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Eskadrille 724 is a Royal Danish Air Force helicopter squadron, housed at Karup Air Base in central Jutland. It was official erected on 7 August 2003, when the Danish armys Hærens Flyvetjeneste was disbanded and transformed into Eskadrille 724, the name Hærens Flyvetjeneste was used onto August 2005. The squadron consist of 12 AS550 Fennec, in the Danish Defence agreement 2005-2009, Eskadrille 724 is to be disbanded, the Fennec helicopter loses its anti-tank capability and will likely be used in a light transport- and observation unit. Until 12 September 2005 the squadron also operated 10 H-500 Cayuse helicopters, a previous Eskadrille 724 did exist in the Danish air force. On 8 January 1951 Eskadrille 724 was established at Karup Air Base, in June 1952 the squadron moved to Aalborg Air Base and in 1956 it was equipped with Hawker Hunter fighters. In 1958 it moved back to Karup Air Base, but already in 1959 it was moved again, with the Danish defence agreement on 26 April 1973, Eskadrille 724 was to be disbanded. The last Hawker Hunter fighter was flown to Aalborg Air Base on 30 March 1974, FOV Newsletter no.15,2003 ISSN 1602-4982 Karup Air Base tjenestestedsblad Vindposen, December 2003 FLV12-okt2005

Eskadrille 724
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Soldiers emerging from two AS 550 Fennec from Eskadrille 724

40.
Huntsmen Corps (Denmark)
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The Hunter Corps is an elite, special forces unit of the Royal Danish Army based at Aalborg Air Base. Their hunting origin is recalled in the horn on their insignia. In the year 1995, the Corps was deployed for the first time, a six-man team was sent to Sarajevo, Bosnia as a counter-sniper reconnaissance team. Throughout the Cold War, the Jaegers primary tasking was that of a reconnaissance unit. However, with the advent of the post-9/11 Global War on Terror, as such, the Jaegers increased their proficiency in counter-terrorism skills, while still maintaining their excellence at reconnaissance operations. In 2002, the Jaegers were deployed to Afghanistan as part of the Danish contribution to Task Force K-Bar, along with the Frogman Corps. As part of Task Force K-Bar, the Jaegers were awarded The Presidential Unit citation on December 7,2004 for its effort as part of the special forces group in Afghanistan. The selection course to become a Jægersoldat is very demanding, both mentally and physically, pre-course 2 More training and evaluation in the above covered subjects. Pre-course 3 More training and evaluation in the above covered subjects with tougher requirements and this course must be completed at a satisfactory level to continue to the aspirant course. Aspirant Course Very demanding course teaching the candidate the physical limits of himself/herself, if passed the candidate is awarded his/her bugle for the beret. Basic parachuting course Combat Swimming Course When all this has been completed to a satisfactory level, following the successful completion of a years full time training, the maroon beret is awarded, and the soldier is considered a full member of the corps. Jægerkorpset wears the beret with a brass emblem depicting a hunters bugle on a black felt liner. After one year of service and training in corps the wearer is issued the shoulder patch JÆGER. The corps regularly trains with similar units from different countries, such as the US Navy SEALs, US Army DELTA, British SAS and the Danish naval special forces group, the corps is based on the structure and modus operandi of the British SAS. Like most western Special Operations Forces, the Jaegers regularly take part in joint training operations with other NATO and Coalition SOFs

Huntsmen Corps (Denmark)
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The group unit insignia of Jægerkorpset

41.
Enlargement of NATO
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Enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the process of including new member states in NATO. NATO is an alliance of twenty-six European and two North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows only for the invitation of other European States, countries wishing to join have to meet certain requirements and complete a multi-step process involving political dialogue and military integration. The accession process is overseen by the North Atlantic Council, NATOs governing body, after its formation in 1949 with twelve founding members, NATO grew by including Greece and Turkey in 1952 and West Germany in 1955, and then later Spain in 1982. After the Cold War ended, and Germany reunited in 1990, in 1999, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined the organization, amid much debate within the organization and Russian opposition. Another expansion came with the accession of seven Central and Eastern European countries, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and these nations were first invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague summit, and joined NATO shortly before the 2004 Istanbul summit. The most recent new members, Albania and Croatia, joined on 1 April 2009, in 2011, NATO officially recognized four aspiring members, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Macedonia has been prevented from joining the alliance by Greece, one effect of the Macedonian naming dispute, the incorporation of countries formerly in the Eastern Bloc has been a cause of increased tension between NATO countries and Russia. NATO has added new members six times since its founding in 1949 to include twenty-eight members. Twelve countries were part of the founding of NATO, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The early years of the Cold War saw a stark divide between Capitalist ideologies, backed by NATO, and Communist satellite states of the Soviet Union and this divide encouraged the anti-Communist governments of Greece and Turkey to join NATO in 1952. Greece would suspend its membership in 1974, over the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Bonn–Paris conventions ended the allies occupation of West Germany, and were ratified in part on the basis that West Germany join NATO, which it did in 1955. Though initially isolationist, Spain under Francisco Franco was heavily anti-Communist, after its transition to democracy, Spain came under pressure to normalize its European relations, including joining NATO, which it did in 1982. A referendum in 1986 confirmed popular support for this, the first post-Cold War expansion of NATO came with German reunification on 3 October 1990, when the former East Germany became part of the Federal Republic of Germany and the alliance. This had been agreed in the Two Plus Four Treaty earlier in the year, other authors, such as Mark Kramer, have also highlighted that in 1990 neither side imagined that countries still technically in the Warsaw Pact or the Soviet Union could one day join NATO. In subsequent years, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors were set up, including the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Hungarys interest in joining was confirmed by a November 1997 referendum that returned 85.3 percent in favor of membership, russias actions in the First Chechen War were also a motivating factor for several countries that had memories of similar Soviet offensives. Russia was particularly upset with the addition of the three Baltic states, the first countries that were part of the Soviet Union to join NATO

42.
Allied Land Command
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Allied Land Command is the standing headquarters for NATO land forces which may be assigned as necessary. The Commander LANDCOM is the land warfare advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it provides the core of the responsible for the conduct of land operations. The command is based at Şirinyer, İzmir in Turkey, NATO has had a headquarters at Izmir for decades. Initially the organization there was Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe, responsible to Allied Forces Southern Europe at Naples. Under this command, with its headquarters in Izmir assisted by the subordinate Thessaloniki Advanced Command Post, were to be most of the Greek and Turkish armies in case of war. LANDSOUTHEAST was commanded by a United States Army lieutenant general, Lieutenant General Willard G. Wyman Lieutenant General Paul W. Kendall Lieutenant General George Windle Read, Jr. Lieutenant General Paul D. Harkins In 1966 the first major change occurred when French military personnel were withdrawn from LANDSOUTHEAST, on 30 December 1977, SHAPE and Turkish military authorities announced another change in the command structure of LANDSOUTHEAST, to be effective 1 July 1978. The command billet was to be filled by a Turkish Army four star general with a U. S. Major General as his deputy. General Sam S. Walker took command in 1977, and On 30 June 1978, General Walker handed over the command to General tr, Vecihi Akın, General Akın held command until 30 August 1979. Construction of a new facility in Sirinyer, Izmir was completed in March 1994. In July 1994, two German Army officers were assigned to the command for the first time, the headquarters garrison at Sirinyer was named General Vecihi Akin Garrison in March 1996, after the first Turkish LANDSOUTHEAST Commander. Turkish Land Forces General Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu commanded LANDSOUTHEAST from c. 1993-1996, after the end of the Cold War, for a period the NATO command in Izmir became Joint Command Southeast. Between 11 August 2004 and 1 June 2013 the headquarters of NATOs Allied Air Component Command in the south and it is responsible for providing a deployable land command for a joint operation. LANDCOM will also carry out the planning, conduct and direction of land operations. What this means is that if a single corps land operation is underway, if multiple corps are being directed, LANDCOM will direct them for either JFC Brunssum or Naples. On October 23,2014, Lt. Gen. Nicholson has assumed command of NATOs Allied Land Command and he succeeds Lt. Gen. Frederick Ben Hodges. Romania is leading the process of creating Multinational Division South-East, which will be established in Bucharest, Romania, the division in Bucharest will be subordinate to the NATO Force Integration Unit also to be established there

43.
Allied Command Transformation
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Allied Command Transformation is a NATO military command, which was formed in 2003 after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation restructuring. Since France rejoined the NATO Military Command Structure in mid-2009, a significant change took place where the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation is now a French officer, the first French Officer to serve as SACT was French Air Force General, Stephane Abrial. Allied Command Transformation was preceded by Allied Command Atlantic established in 1952 under the command of Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, with its headquarters at Norfolk. Following the end of the Cold War, the Command was reduced, with many of its subordinate headquarters spread across the Atlantic area losing their NATO status, however, the basic structure remained in place until the Prague Summit in the Czech Republic in 2002. This led to ACLANT being decommissioned effective 19 June 2003, US Navy became the last SACLANT on 2 October 2002. He served as ACLANT commander until 19 Jun 2003 and he then served as Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation, until 1 Aug 2005. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope RN, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, thus NATO’s military command structure was reorganized. One strategic command, Allied Command Transformation, was focused on transforming NATO, while the strategic command focused on NATO’s operations. Initial reports about a NATO transformation command began to appear in July 2002, ACT was formally established on June 19,2003. A suite of Baseline for Rapid Iterative Transformational Experimentation software was designed in response to the Maritime Situational Awareness request, since Allied Command Atlantic became Allied Command Transformation, commanders have included non-naval officers. Gen. Lance L. Smith USAF commanded ACT from 10 Nov 2005 until 9 Nov 2007 and he was succeeded by Gen. James N. Mattis USMC, who served from 9 Nov 2007 -08 Sep 2009. A significant change was the assumption of command by a French officer, after France rejoined the NATO Command Structure in mid-2009, General Stéphane Abrial, former chief of the French Air Force assumed command in 2009. French Air Force General Jean-Paul Paloméros replaced fellow Frenchman General Stéphane Abrial at the end of September 2012, on 30 Sep 2015 French Air Force General Denis Mercier succeeded General Paloméros. The Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation position is filled by General Mirco Zuliani of the Italian Air Force. He succeeded General Mieczysław Bieniek of the Polish Land Forces, who had himself succeeded Admiral Luciano Zappata, for several years, in a carryover from SACLANT, the Deputys position was filled by a Royal Navy admiral. Stanhopes succession by Zappata meant an end to this practice, a large number of conferences and seminars have been organised by the command in fulfilment of its conceptual development mission. These have included CD&E, a national Chiefs of Transformation conference, an examination of the Global Commons, Law of Armed Conflict, the commands headquarters is located in Norfolk, Virginia, in the United States. This division probably serves as NATOs linkpoint to the annual U. S. -led Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, reflecting NATO as a whole, ACT has a presence on both sides of the Atlantic

44.
NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Paolo Alli from Italy and its current Secretary General is David Hobbs from the United Kingdom, he has been in this position since January 2008. These measures included the Secretary General providing a response to all Assembly recommendations and resolutions adopted in its Plenary Sessions. In response to the fall of the Berlin wall at the end of the 1980s and those ties, in turn, greatly facilitated the dialogue that NATO itself embarked upon with the regions governments. Bringing together legislators from all the states of the Atlantic Alliance. At the same time, it facilitates parliamentary awareness and understanding of key security issues and contributes to a transparency of NATO policies. Crucially, it helps maintain and strengthen the relationship, which underpins the Atlantic Alliance. It played the role with respect to the ratification process leading to the accession of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in March 2004. The NATO PA consists of 257 delegates from the 28 NATO member countries, delegates to the Assembly are nominated by their parliaments according to their national procedures, on the basis of party representation in the parliaments. The Assembly therefore represents a spectrum of political opinion. The Assembly’s governing body is the Standing Committee, which is composed of the Head of each delegation, the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer. The headquarters of the Assembly’s 28-strong International Secretariat is located in central Brussels, the Assembly is directly funded by member parliaments and governments, and is financially and administratively separate from NATO itself. Each country’s contribution is based on the NATO Civil Budget formula, the five Committees are, Civil Dimension of Security, Defence and Security, Economics and Security, Political, Science and Technology. They are charged with examining all major issues in their fields. The Committees and Sub-Committees produce reports, which are discussed in draft form at the Assembly’s Spring Session, the reports are then revised and up-dated for discussion, amendment and adoption at the Assembly’s Annual Session in the Autumn. The NATO Secretary General responds in writing to the Assemblys recommendations, NATO-PA Delegations also undertake visits to NATO mission areas such as Afghanistan and the Balkans. The NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee was discontinued in April 2014 following Russias military intervention in Ukraine, the Rose-Roth Programme of partnership and co-operation is designed to extend assistance to countries undergoing transition through difficult political and economic reforms. The program was designed to support Central and Eastern European countries but has subsequently focused mainly on the Balkans

NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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The Parliamentary Assembly meeting in London prior to the start of the 2014 Newport summit

45.
Albanian Armed Forces
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The Albanian Armed Forces are the military of Albania and were formed after the declaration of independence in 1912. Today, it consists of, the General Staff, the Albanian Land Force, Albanian Air Force, the President of Albania is the Commander-in-Chief of the nations military. In times of peace, the Presidents powers as Commander-in-Chief are executed through the Prime Minister, on 4 December 1912, the Albanian Prime Minister, Ismail Qemali and his government, formed the Albanian National Army. Its first Chief in Command was Lieutenant Colonel Ali Shefqet Shkupi By 1923, at that time, Albania did not have a navy. In 1927, the Albanian Armed Forces numbered approximately 8.000 and these troops were organized into three groups, based in Tirana, Shkodër to the north and Berat to the south. Each group was organized into three battalions of 500, a guards battalion of 350 was organized in Tirana. Four frontier battalions of mountaineers were held on reserve, as well as tanks, additionally, a cadet school, a machine-gun school, and a bombing school were housed in the capital. In 1927 alone, the Albanian military ordered 20,000 rifles,40 mountain guns,120 machine guns, the Royal Albanian Army was the army of King Zogu from 1928 until 1939. Its commander-in-chief was himself, its commander General Xhemal Aranitasi, its Chief of Staff was General Gustav von Myrdacz, the army was mainly financed by Italy. On 7 April 1939, Italian troops invaded the country, after the Second World War, Albania became a Soviet-aligned country. The ranks and the structure of the Albanian Armed Forces were organized based on the Soviet concepts, like all other branches of the state, the military was subjugated to Communist Party control. All high-ranking military officers and most of the lower and middle ranks were members of the Communist Party—and had loyalties to it, the system was re-enforced by the establishment of Party cells within the military and extensive communist political education alongside soldiers’ military training, by the political commissars. In 1991 the rank system was reestablished under President Ramiz Alia, initially the communist purge concentrated on the military personnel graduated by the Western Military Academies, extended later on to the officers graduated in Soviet Union. As the communist regime collapsed in Albania during 1990, there was a fear that the armed forces might intervene to halt the collapse of communism by force. In the event, the armed forces stood by as the regime of which they had been a part disintegrated, during the 1980s, Albania had reduced the number of infantry brigades from eight to four. It had shifted to fully manned units from its reliance on the mobilisation of reserve soldiers to flesh out a larger number of units manned at a lower level. Each brigade had three battalions and one lightly equipped artillery battalion. Armoured forces consisted of one tank brigade, artillery forces were increased from one to three regiments during the 1980s, and six battalions of coastal artillery were maintained at strategic points along the Adriatic Sea littoral

Albanian Armed Forces
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An Albanian T-59 tank during the Albania-Yugoslav border incident in May 1999.
Albanian Armed Forces
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Emblem of Albanian Armed Forces
Albanian Armed Forces
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Albanian soldiers conduct a joint patrol with U.S. soldiers in Iraq on 13 January 2005
Albanian Armed Forces
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The full set of commissioned officers ranks in the Albanian Army

46.
Bulgarian Armed Forces
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The Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria, the Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while overall military command remains in the hands of the Defence Staff, headed by the Chief of the Defence. There are three branches, named literally the Land Forces, the Air Forces and the Naval Forces. Throughout history, the Army has played a role in defending the countrys sovereignty. During the Cold War the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria maintained one of the largest militaries in the Warsaw Pact, since the Fall of Communism, the political leadership decided to pursue a pro-NATO policy, thus reducing military personnel and weaponry. Bulgaria joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 29 March 2004, the patron saint of the Bulgarian Army is St. George. The Armed Forces Day or St. Georges Day is a holiday in Bulgaria. The modern Bulgarian military dates back to 1878, on 22 July 1878 a total of 12 battalions of opalchentsi who participated in the Liberation war, formed the Bulgarian armed forces. According to the Tarnovo Constitution, all men between 21 and 40 years of age were eligible for military service, in 1883 the military was reorganized in four infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade. The Serbo-Bulgarian War was the first armed conflict after Bulgarias liberation and it was a result of the unification with Eastern Rumelia, which happened on 6 September 1885. The unification was not completely recognized, however, and one of the countries that refused to recognize the act was the Kingdom of Serbia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been expanding its influence in the Balkans and was particularly opposed. Serbia also feared this would diminish its dominance in the region, in addition, Serbian ruler Milan Obrenović IV was annoyed that Serbian opposition leaders like Nikola Pašić, who had escaped persecution after the Timok Rebellion, had found asylum in Bulgaria. Lured by Austria-Hungarys promises of territorial gains from Bulgaria, Milan IV declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November 1885, Military strategy relied largely on surprise, as Bulgaria had moved most of its troops near the border with the Ottoman Empire, in the southeast. As it happened, the Ottomans did not intervene and the Serbian armys advance was stopped after the Battle of Slivnitsa, the main body of the Bulgarian army traveled from the Ottoman border in the southeast to the Serbian border in the northwest to defend the capital, Sofia. After the defensive battles at Slivnitsa and Vidin, Bulgaria began an offensive that took the city of Pirot, at this point the Austro-Hungarian Empire stepped in, threatening to join the war on Serbias side if Bulgarian troops did not retreat. Fighting lasted for only 14 days, from 14-28 November, a peace treaty was signed in Bucharest on 19 February 1886. No territorial changes were made to either country, but Bulgarian unification was recognized by the Great Powers, however, the relationship of trust and friendship between Serbia and Bulgaria, built during their long common fight against Ottoman rule, suffered irreparable damage. Instability in the Balkan region in the early 1900s quickly became a precondition for a new war, Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of its independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and Macedonia for expansion

47.
Republic of Croatia Armed Forces
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The total number of active military personnel in the Croatian Armed Forces stands at 14,506 and 6,000 reserves working in various service branches of the armed forces. In May 2016, Armed Forces had 16,019 members, of the 14,506 active military personnel,3,183 were officers,5,389 non-commissioned officers,5,393 soldiers,520 military specialists,337 civil servants and 1,176 other employees. Total available male manpower aged 16–49 number 1,035,712, male citizens are now no longer subject to compulsory military service since January 1,2008. However, the last generation of 2007 servicemen was also absolved of compulsory service by an act from then Minister of Defence Berislav Rončević. For example,1995 Croatian defense budget stood at 12.4 billion Croatian Kuna or just over 12% of GDP, a long term modernization plan, 2015-2024 has been published outlining overall goals and is available for download at the Ministry of Defence of Croatia website. At the moment the Croatian Air Force will keep 12 MiG-21bis fighter aircraft, the Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy acts as a school of higher learning responsible for training and educating future generations of military personnel. The academy consists of schools including Ban Josip Jelačić, Blago Zadro, Katarina Zrinska, the Officers Academy. The academy has 300 full-time staff and is the military academy in Croatia. Each year also 100-120 foreign nationals attend the academy, the Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organization of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, the Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime components. The wartime component of the Armed Forces includes all other reservists, the General Staff is part of the Ministry of Defense in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces. It also has a number of units under its command, including the Special Operations Battalion, Honor Guard Battalion. In peace, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through the Minister of Defence, in war and in cases where the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling his orders, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander. The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control over the Armed Forces by adopting defence strategy, defence budget, the command staff is composed of the members who served in the special units, guards brigades and reconnaissance units of the Croatian Armed Forces. Colonel Perica Turalija is the current commanding officer of the command, also, this means that members of all three branches of the Croatian armed forces can apply for selection. Other special operations units are the Military Intelligence Battalion and Special Military Police Company, the duties of an Honour Guard are performed by the Počasno zaštitna bojna, located at Zagreb in the Tuškanac military base. A $3-Billion modernization plan was proposed by the then Prime Minister Ivica Racan of the SDP led Government in 2003, with planned modernization starting in 2006 and ending in 2015. However it has been delayed in part due to the subsequent economic recession, a New Plan under the current Prime Minister Zoran Milanović should define exactly how and what the Croatian armed forces should look like by 2023

48.
French Armed Forces
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The French Armed Forces encompass the French Army, the French Navy, the French Air Force, the French National Guard and the National Gendarmerie of France. The President of the Republic heads the armed forces, with the title chef des armées, the President is the supreme authority for military matters and is the sole official who can order a nuclear strike. France maintains the tenth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest armed forces in size in the EU, France also maintains the third largest nuclear deterrent behind only Russia and the United States. The Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, after the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The land of Francia, from which France gets its name, had points of expansion under kings Clovis I. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years War. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, in parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, at the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years War, internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War, France and its allies were victorious this time. The Allies, including the government in exiles Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, as a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a power and since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO. Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of independence, nuclear deterrence. France is a member of NATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATOs military wing, including the Military Committee, France remains a firm supporter of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO-Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation, France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France

49.
Bundeswehr
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The Bundeswehr is the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities. The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain armed forces of their own, the Bundeswehr is divided into a military part and a civil part with the armed forces administration. The military part of the defense force consists of the Heer, Marine, Luftwaffe, Streitkräftebasis, Zentraler Sanitätsdienst. In addition the Bundeswehr has approximately 27,600 reserve personnel. 2%, the Bundeswehr are in the process of integrating smaller NATO members Brigades into divisions of the German army. The Bundeswehr is to play a role as anchor army for smaller NATO states. 2 of 3 Royal Netherlands Army Brigades are now under German Command, in 2014 the 11th Airmobile Brigade, was integrated into the German Division of fast forces. Also the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade, will be integrated into the 1st Panzer Division of the German army, with the integration starting at the beginning of 2016, and the unit becoming operational at the end of 2019. The Dutch-German military cooperation are seen as an example for setting up a European defense union, also the Czech Republics 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade, and Romania’s 81st Mechanized Brigade, will be integrated into Germany’s 10 Armoured Division and Rapid Response Forces Division. The name Bundeswehr was first proposed by the former Wehrmacht general and Liberal politician Hasso von Manteuffel, the Iron Cross is its official emblem. It is a symbol that has an association with the military of Germany. The Schwarzes Kreuz is derived from the black cross insignia of the medieval Teutonic knights, when the Bundeswehr was established in 1955, its founding principles were based on developing a completely new military force for the defence of West Germany. In this respect the Bundeswehr did not consider itself to be a successor to either the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic or Hitlers Wehrmacht, neither does it adhere to the traditions of any former German military organization. One of the most visible traditions of the modern Bundeswehr is the Großer Zapfenstreich, the FRG reinstated this formal military ceremony in 1952, three years before the foundation of the Bundeswehr. Today it is performed by a band with 4 fanfare trumpeters and timpani. The Zapfenstreich is only performed during national celebrations or solemn public commemorations and it can honour distinguished persons present such as the German federal president or provide the conclusion to large military exercises. Another important tradition in the modern German armed forces is the Gelöbnis, there are two kinds of oath, for conscripts/recruits it is a pledge but its a solemn vow for full-time personnel. The pledge is made annually on 20 July, the date on which a group of Wehrmacht officers attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, recruits from the Bundeswehrs Wachbataillon make their vow at the Bendlerblock in Berlin. This was the headquarters of the resistance but also where the officers were executed following its failure

50.
Hungarian Defence Force
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Hungarian Defence Forces is the national defence force of Hungary. The President holds the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence jointly with Chief of staff administers the armed forces, including the Hungarian Ground Force, since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over the army, a subordinate Joint Forces Command is coordinating and commanding the HDF corps. In 2016, the forces had 31.080 personnel on active duty. In 2017, military spending will be $1.21 billion, about 0. 94% of the countrys GDP, in 2012, the government adopted a resolution in which it pledged to increase defence spending to 1. 4% of GDP by 2022. Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime, in a significant move for modernization, Hungary decided in 2001 to buy 14 JAS39 Gripen fighter aircraft for about 800 million EUR. Hungarian National Cyber Security Center is re-organized in 2016 in order to more efficient through cyber security. Hungary sent 300 strong logistics unit to Iraq in order to help the US occupation with armed transport convoys, one soldier was killed in action because of a roadside bomb in Iraq. During the 18th and 19th century, Hungarian Hussars rose to international fame, in 1848–49 HDF achieved incredible successes against better-trained and equipped Austrian forces, despite the obvious advantage in numbers on the Austrian side. In 1872, the Ludovica Military Academy officially began training cadets, by 1873 HDF already had over 2,800 officers and 158,000 men organized into eighty-six battalions and fifty-eight squadrons. During World War I out of the eight million men mobilized by Austro Hungarian Empire, during the 1930s and early 1940s, Hungary was preoccupied with the regaining the vast territories and huge amount of population lost in the Trianon peace treaty at Versailles in 1920. Conscription was introduced on a basis in 1939. The peacetime strength of the Royal Hungarian Army grew to 80,000 men organized into seven corps commands, during World War II the Hungarian Second Army was near to total devastation on banks of the Don River in December 1942 in Battle for Stalingrad. As of 2016 Global Peace Index shows, Hungary is one of the worlds most peaceful countries, since 2007, the Hungarian Defence Force has been under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil control over the army, the military leadership is exercised by the Defence Staff of the Ministry of Defence. A subordinate Joint Force Command coordinates and commands the HDF corps, the Home Defence Pyrotechnician and Warship Battalion of the Hungarian Defence Forces based in Újpest Port, on the River Danube, Budapest. In the 2000s, the army bought new minesweepers, restored or retired the old ones, on national holidays warships come along the River Danube in Budapest

Hungarian Defence Force
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Operator of Hungarian Army's 34th ’László Bercsényi’ Special Operations Battalion (KMZ) about to storm the unit's own Killing House
Hungarian Defence Force
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Flag and emblem of the Hungarian Defence Force
Hungarian Defence Force
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Infantrymen of Hungarian Army's 25/88th Light Mixed Battalion
Hungarian Defence Force
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The Hungarian Air Force has 14 JAS 39 Gripens on lease, including two two-seaters (C/D versions). The final three aircraft were delivered in December 2007.

51.
Military of Iceland
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Icelands defences consist of the Icelandic Coast Guard, which patrols Icelandic waters and airspace, and other services such as the National Commissioners National Security and Special Forces Units. The Coast Guard consists of three ships and four aircraft and armed with small arms, naval artillery, and Air Defence weaponry, the Coast Guard also maintains the Iceland Air Defence System, formerly part of the disestablished Defence Agency, which conducts ground surveillance of Icelands air space. Units subordinated to the National Commissioner also take part in Icelands defences, additionally there is a Crisis Response Unit, operated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which is a small peacekeeping force that has been deployed internationally, since 2008. This unit also has an unarmed component, furthermore, there is a treaty with the United States regarding the defense of Iceland, the former maintained a military base known as Naval Air Station Keflavik before it was disestablished in 2006. There are also agreements about military and other security operations with Norway, Denmark, Iceland holds the annual NATO exercises entitled Northern Viking. The most recent exercises were held in 2011, as well as the EOD exercise Northern Challenge, in 1997 Iceland hosted its first Partnership for Peace exercise, Cooperative Safeguard, which is the only multilateral PfP exercise so far in which Russia has participated. Another major PfP exercise was hosted in 2000, Iceland has also contributed ICRU peacekeepers to SFOR, KFOR and ISAF. The government of Iceland contributes financially to NATOs international overhead costs and recently has taken an active role in NATO deliberations. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Reykjavík in June 1987 and these armies were divided into units according to the quality of the warriors and by birth. At the end of this period the number of chieftains had diminished and their power had grown and this resulted in a long and bloody civil war known as Age of the Sturlungs. A typical battle involved fewer than 1000 men, amphibious operations were an important part of warfare in Iceland in this period, especially in the Westfjords, but large naval engagements were rare. The largest such engagement, known as Flóabardagi, involved a few ships in Húnaflói. In 1855, the Icelandic Army was re-established by Andreas August von Kohl, in 1856, the king provided 180 rixdollars to buy guns, and a further 200 rixdollars the following year. The sheriff became the Captain of the new army, which known as Herfylkingin. In 1860 von Kohl died, and Pétur Bjarnasen took over command, nine years later Bjarnasen died without appointing a successor, and the army fell into disarray. In 1918, Iceland regained sovereignty as a kingdom under the Danish king. Iceland established a Coast Guard shortly afterwards, but it was impossible to establish a standing army. The government hoped that a permanent neutrality would shield the country from invasion, but at the onset of Second World War, the government was concerned about a possible invasion, and decided to expand the Icelandic National Police and its reserves into a military unit

52.
Lithuanian Armed Forces
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The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of 20565 active personnel. Conscription was ended in September 2008 but was reintroduced in 2015 because of concerns about the environment in light of Russias military intervention in Ukraine. Lithuanias defence system is based on the concept of total and unconditional defence mandated by Lithuanias National Security Strategy, the goal of Lithuanias defence policy is to prepare their society for general defence and to integrate Lithuania into Western security and defence structures. The defence ministry is responsible for combat forces, search and rescue, a special security department handles VIP protection and communications security. Directly subordinated to the Chief of Defence are the Special Operations Forces, the Reserve Forces are under command of the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. The core of the Lithuanian Land Force structure is the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade consisting of three mechanized infantry battalions and artillery battalion, the Lithuanian Land forces are undertaking a major modernization. New weapons and heavier armour are going to be acquired, in 2007 the Land forces bought the German Heckler & Koch G36 rifle to replace the older Swedish Ak-4 as main weapon. There are plans to buy new Infantry fighting vehicles, the volunteers have already successfully participated in international operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. The NDVF consists of six territorial units, the Lithuanian Air Force is an integral part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The LAF is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel, units are located at various bases across Lithuania, Kaunas, Karmėlava, Nemirseta, Šiauliai, Radviliškis. The initial formation of the LAF was the 2nd transport squadron with the transfer of 20 An-2 aircraft from civilian to military use and these were joined by four L-39C Albatros aircraft purchased from Kazakhstan as part of the intended 16 to be used by the 1st fighter squadron. Mil Mi-8 helicopters were modernised by LAF, in 20082 medium-range radars were acquired for the Air Forces Airspace Surveillance and Control Command. Air space is patrolled by jet fighters from other NATO members, the European Unions External border is patrolled by Aviation Unit of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service which received new helicopters EC-120, EC-135 and EC-145. The Navy has over 600 personnel, the flotilla is the core component of the Navy, and consists of the Mine Countermeasures Squadron, the Patrol Ships Squadron, and the Harbour Boats Group. The current Commander in Chief of the Lithuanian Navy is Rear Admiral Kęstutis Macijauskas, the Naval base and Headquarters are located in the city of Klaipėda. The Navy uses patrol ships for coastal surveillance, the four newly acquired Flyvefisken class patrol vessels replaced the older Storm class patrol boats and Grisha class corvettes. SOF is formed from the Special Operations Unit, SOF are responsible for the following tasks, special reconnaissance, direct actions, and military support. It is also in charge of tasks, e. g. protection of VIP in peacetime

53.
Military of Montenegro
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The Military of Montenegro consists of an army, navy and air force. There has been no conscription in Montenegro, the military is a professional standing army. The military currently maintains a force of 1,950 active duty members, Montenegro is a member of NATOs Partnership for Peace program and is an official candidate for full membership in the alliance. Montenegro applied for a Membership Action Plan on 5 November 2008, in 2015, it was reported that international support for Montenegros NATO membership was growing. In December 2015, North Atlantic Council, invited Montenegro to join NATO as 29th member, Montenegro participates in peace operations under the NATO and UN auspices as military troops and observers. Minister of Defense said that 85 soldiers are trained for international missions, Montenegrin soldiers are trained by the German Bundeswehr. Montenegro sent 45 troops and medical personnel to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, Montenegro also participates in UN peacekeeping missions in Liberia, UNMIL, Cyprus, UNFICYP as military observers and Somalia, EU-NAVFOR. Each kapetanija formed its reserve battalion, there were 42 battalions in total. Since 1881, regular military exercises were conducted, supreme Commander of the Montenegrin army was the monarch, Prince / King Nikola I. Operational command, organization and financial support of the Montenegrin army was entrusted to the Ministry of Defence, General Staff of the Montenegrin army was part of the Ministry of Defence. In 1882 first 14 Montenegrins were sent to schools abroad, particularly in Italy. In 1886,10 of them completed their education and they become first trained officers in Montenegrin warrior history and these Montenegrin officers held courses in Podgorica, Nikšić and Cetinje. In September 1895, the first permanent Infantry NCO school in Podgorica was opened, at the end of 1896, artillery officer school in Cetinje was established - the first Montenegrin officer school. In 1906 Montenegrin army received the first systematized regulations, and the Law on Organization of the Army was adopted in 1910, Infantry and artillery, were established, followed by two specialized branches, and additional branches. In 1913 the Montenegrin gendarmerie become a special Military Police unit, since the establishment of the internal Montenegrin telecommunications system in 1869, vital for the flow of military-defense information, it was under the jurisdiction of Ministry of the military. Divisions were composed of 2-3 Infantry Brigade, each divisional command had three artillery batteries. On the eve of the First Balkan War Kingdom of Montenegro lined up 55,000 soldiers, all Montenegrins between 18 and 62 years were conscripts. Recruitment was done three times a year, and the recruits are in peacetime had to have at least 25 years, the Military of Montenegro before 1918, was much larger than todays military

Military of Montenegro
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Kotor class Frigate
Military of Montenegro
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Montenegrin troops in Afghanistan
Military of Montenegro
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Members of Special Forces Brigade
Military of Montenegro
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Members of Marine Platoon

54.
Norwegian Armed Forces
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The Norwegian Armed Forces is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of four branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air Force, the armed forces number 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees, and have a full-mobilisation combat strength of 83,000. The armed forces are subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, led by Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, the formal commander-in-chief is King Harald V, however, the de facto commander-in-chief is Chief of Defence Haakon Bruun-Hanssen. His staff is located at Akershus Fortress in Oslo, while the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the main naval base is Haakonsvern in Bergen, the main army camps are in Bardu, Målselv and Rena, and the main air station is Ørland. An organised military was first assembled in Norway in the 9th century and was focused around naval warfare. The army was created in 1628 as part of Denmark–Norway, followed by two centuries of regular wars, a Norwegian military was established in 1814, but the military did not see combat until the German occupation of Norway in 1940. Norway abandoned its position as a country in 1949 to become a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The Cold War saw a large build-up of air stations and military bases, since the 2000s, the military has transformed from a focus on defence from an invasion to a mobile force for international missions. Among European NATO members, the expenditure of US$7.2 billion is the highest per capita. The Chief of Defence heads the armed forces, and is the military adviser to the Minister of Defence. It is headed by a general or admiral. DEFSTNOR assigns priorities, manages resources, provides force generation and support activities, each of the four branches of defence is headed by a two-star general/admiral who are subordinate to DEFSTNOR. National Joint Headquarters located at Reitan, close to Bodø has operational control of Norwegian armed forces worldwide 24/7 and it is headed by the Supreme Commander Norwegian Forces - a three-star general or admiral. Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation at Kolsås outside Oslo is responsible for engineering, procurement, investment, supply, information and it is also responsible for maintenance, repair and storage of material. Norway employs a form of mandatory military service for men and women. While 63,841 men and women were called in for the examination of persons liable for service in 2012,9265 were conscripted. In 2015 conscription was extended to women making Norway the first NATO member, there is a right of conscientious objection. The press statements read, that serves as a means to “fight climate change”

55.
Romanian Armed Forces
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The Land Forces, Air Force and Naval Forces of Romania are collectively known as the Romanian Armed Forces. The current Commander-in-chief is General Nicolae Ionel Ciuca who is managed by the Minister of National Defence while the president is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime. 84,000 men and women comprise the Armed Forces,15,000 of them being military personnel. Out of the 90,000 military and civilian personnel,60,000 are the troops while 30,000 comprise the active territorial reserves. As of 2010, the Land Forces have a strength of 43,000, the Air Force 9,700, the Naval Forces 7,150. As per the 2011 White Paper, these forces are to be gradually decreased over the 2011–2014 period to reach a total of about 65,000 active troops and active reserves. Total defence spending currently accounts for 1. 33% of total national GDP, the Land Forces have overhauled their equipment in recent years, and are today a modern army with multiple NATO capabilities. They are participating in a mission in Afghanistan, together with the other NATO countries. The Land Forces are at present planning on replacing the TAB APC vehicles with new armored personnel carriers produced in conjunction with the Germany company Rheinmetall. The Air Force currently operates modernized Soviet MiG-21 LanceR fighters, which are due to be replaced by modernized ex-Portuguese F-16 fighters starting with 2016. In the first stage a first squadron of 12 fighter aircraft will be acquired, the Air Force has also received 7 new C-27J Spartan tactical airlift aircraft, in order to replace the bulk of the old transport force. Two modernized ex-Royal Navy Type 22 frigates were acquired by the Naval Forces in 2004, three domestically-produced IAR330 Puma NAVAL helicopters were also ordered by the Naval Forces, and were commissioned in late 2008. As a consequence, extensive preparations were made to abolish conscription by 2007, the new armed forces include 90,000 men and women, of whom about 75,000 are military personnel. 60,000 of the 90,000 are active forces,30,000 comprise the territorial forces, the Romanian Military will essentially undergo a three-stage restructuring. As of 2007, the first short-term stage has been completed,2015 marks the end of the second stage when the armed forces will reach a superior compatibility with NATO forces. In 2025, the stage is to be completed. The stages aim at modernising the structure of the forces, reducing the personnel as well as acquiring newer. Romanian troops participated in the occupation of Iraq, reaching a peak of 730 soldiers before being drawn down to 350 soldiers

56.
Slovak Armed Forces
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The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic number 15,996 uniformed personnel and 3,761 civilians. Slovakia joined NATO on 29 March 2004, from 2006 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. Ground forces - are made up of two mechanized infantry brigades and a Combat Support Brigade. Air and air defence forces - comprising one wing of fighters, one wing of utility helicopters, air defence systems SA-6 Gainful -5 batteries SA-10 Grumble -1 battery SA-18 Grouse -72 pcs The 5th Special Forces Regiment is Slovakias counter-terrorism and special operations unit. The unit is attached to the armed forces general staff. Slovakia has 169 military personnel deployed in Cyprus for UNFICYP United Nations led peace support operations, Slovakia committed to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan to around 45 men by the end of 2016. Slovakia has 41 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for EUFOR Althea, Slovak troops were withdrawn from Kosovo because the Slovak Armed Forces set its priority to focus mainly on an Afghanistan NATO led mission. Since the independence of Slovakia in 1993, there have been 59 uniformed personnel deaths in the line of service to the United Nations, official homepage of the Ministry of Defence Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic Picture gallery Slovak military photos

57.
Foreign relations of NATO
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NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these nations, typically based on that countrys location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace, five EU member states, all who have declared their non-alignment with military alliances, are not NATO members, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Malta, and Sweden. Switzerland, which is surrounded by the EU, has maintained their neutrality by staying out of the bloc. All these countries, however, have joined the Partnership for Peace programme, armenia has maintained positive relations with NATO members and has signed up for the Partnership for Peace programme and the Individual Partnership Action Plan. According to a NATO diplomatic source in August 2009 some key officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels were pushing hard for engaging Azerbaijan on the membership question. Turkey, Romania, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, while President Ilham Aliyev has generally supported non-belligerency since his rise to power in 2003, Azerbaijan has hosted NATO military exercises and high-profile meetings in 2009. The unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh would present a major roadblock to membership, Azerbaijan made its policy of not being aligned with a geopolitical/military structure official when it became a full member of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2011. Cyprus is the only EU member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member of the PfP program, turkey, a full member of NATO, is likely to veto any attempt by Cyprus to engage with NATO until the dispute is resolved. The winner of Cyprus presidential election in February 2013, Nicos Anastasiades, has stated that he intends to apply for membership in the PfP program soon after taking over. Finland participates in nearly all sub-areas of the Partnership for Peace programme, however, a 2005 poll indicated that the public was strongly against NATO membership. The possibility of Finlands membership in NATO was one of the most important issues debated in relation to the Finnish presidential election of 2006, the main opposition candidate in the 2006 election, Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party, supported Finland joining a more European NATO. Fellow right-winger Henrik Lax of the Swedish Peoples Party likewise supported the concept, on the other side, president Tarja Halonen of the Social Democratic Party opposed changing the status quo, as did most other candidates in the election. Her victory and re-election to the post of president has put the issue of a NATO membership for Finland on hold for at least the duration of her term. Currently no political party explicitly supports NATO membership, another ex-president, Mauno Koivisto, opposes the idea, arguing that NATO membership would ruin Finlands relations with Russia. As such, Finland participated in the 2015 NATO-led Arctic Challenge Exercise, irish government policy for the deployment of troops to NATO-led missions requires that the missions be mandated by the United Nations, cabinet-backed and approved by Dáil Éireann. This is known as Irelands triple lock, public opinion in Ireland continues to favour a policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, and currently no major political party fully supports ascension into NATO. There has been, and continues to be, a number of politicians who support Ireland joining NATO, mainly within the centre-right Fine Gael party and it is widely understood that a referendum would have to be held before any changes could be made to neutrality or to joining NATO

58.
Atlantic Treaty Association
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The Atlantic Treaty Association is an umbrella organization which acts as a network facilitator in the Euro-Atlantic and beyond. ATA is, however, an independent organization separate from NATO, ATA was created on 18 June 1954. Since the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, in 1992 the ATA Constitution was amended to accommodate associate members and observers from non-NATO countries. Following the ascension of the new NATO countries in 1999 and 2004, ATA membership expanded considerably, and naturally its security focus has shifted south and eastward. The Atlantic Treaty Association seeks, through discussion and political channels, to support the values set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty, Freedom, Liberty, Peace, Security, and the Rule of law. As such, ATA acts as a forum for debate in which member associations can realize common interests, the youth branch of the ATA, the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association was created in 1996. ATA is fully dedicated to engaging the youth of the Euro-Atlantic through close cooperation with its youth division, the Atlantic Treaty Association firmly believes in the strength of the transatlantic relationship – one which is fundamental to the stability of the international system in the 21st century. As such, ATA remains instrumental in bridging values from both sides of the Atlantic in its effort to underpin the broader goals of the NATO Alliance, ATA is composed of three main bodies, the Assembly, the Bureau, and the Council. The Assembly is the top decision-making body of the ATA and is composed of delegates from Member, with the exception of Observer Members, each delegate has one vote and resolutions are passed by a simple majority. The Bureau includes the president, vice presidents, secretary general, treasurer, YATA president, Members of the Bureau assist in carrying out the decisions of the Council and the Assembly and aid in policy matters. The Council comprises Bureau members plus up to three delegates from each of the ATA Member, Associate Member and Observer Member associations, ATA allows the Council to take action on its behalf, with the recommendation of the Bureau and the approval of the Assembly. The Council holds two meetings a year, once at NATO Headquarters and once in a host country, lamers MdB 2015- Fabrizio Luciolli Official website for ATA Official website for YATA

Atlantic Treaty Association
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Presidents [edit]

59.
Military of Greece
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The Hellenic Armed Forces are combined military forces of Greece. They consist of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, the Hellenic Army, the Hellenic Navy, the civilian authority for the Greek military is the Ministry of National Defense. Greece currently has universal compulsory military service for males, under which all men above 18 years of age serve for 9 months, women may serve in the Greek military, but cannot be conscripted. According to NATO, in 2008, Greece spent 2.8 percent of G. D. P. on its military, or about €6.9 billion, or around $9.3 billion. Greece is the largest importer of weapons in Europe and its military spending is the highest in the European Union. Greece is an EU and NATO member country and participates in peacekeeping operations such as ISAF in Afghanistan, EUFOR in Bosnia and Chad, the basic components of the Hellenic Army are Arms and Corps, the first responsible for combat missions and the latter for logistical support. It is organized in Commands, formations, and units with the basic being brigade, division and its main mission is to guarantee the territorial integrity and independence of the state. Hellenic Navy possesses a powerful fleet, consisted of strike units, Hellenic Air Force incorporates a modern air fleet, the congruent structure, as well as a modern system of air control, which cooperates with a widespread net of anti aircraft defense. The structure of its forces includes the General Staff of Air Force, the Command Post of Regular Army, the Air Support Command, the Air Training Command and a number of units and services

Military of Greece
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Hellenic Armed Forces Eλληνικές Ένοπλες Δυνάμεις

60.
Armed Forces of Malta
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The Armed Forces of Malta is the name given to the combined armed services of Malta. The AFM is a brigade sized organisation consisting of a headquarters, since Malta is guardian of the European Unions most southerly border, the AFM has an active role in border control. See, Kings Own Malta Regiment In April 1800 after the Siege, Thomas Graham raised the first official Maltese Troops in the British Army and this battalion of men was disbanded in 1802 and succeeded by the Maltese Provincial Battalions, the Malta Coast Artillery and the Maltese Veterans. In 1815, Lieutenant Colonel Count Francis Rivarola was entrusted with the task of raising the Royal Malta Fencible Regiment following the disbandment of the Provincials, Veterans and Coast Artillery. The Royal Malta Fencible Regiment was converted to a regiment in 1861. Twenty-eight years later, the predecessors of the Armed Forces of Malta came into existence following the formation of the Royal Malta Artillery on March 23,1889. The Kings Own Malta Regiment, it was an infantry regiment on the British Army colonial list prior to Maltas independence. It was formed in 1801 as the Regiment of Maltese Militia and it was reformed as the Maltese Militia by Sir Adrian Dingli in 1852 before disbanding again in 1857. It was raised again, this time as the Royal Malta Regiment of Militia in 1889, the regiment was renamed the Kings Own Royal Malta Regiment of Militia in 1903, and was disbanded in 1921. The regiment was raised for a time in 1931 as the Kings Own Malta Regiment. Initially on the British Establishment, in 1951 it was transferred to the Malta Territorial Force before becoming part of the Malta Land Force on Maltas independence in 1970, the regiment was disbanded in 1972. The AFM was formed upon Malta becoming a republic in 1974 and this initially continued the artillery role, with 2 Regiment formed as an engineers unit. In 1980,1 Regiment became a unit, with infantry, aircraft and maritime responsibilities. In 1992, there was a major re-organisation, which led to the formation of 3 Regiment, KOMR Battle Honours 1800 Second World War, Malta 1940–1942 HQ AFM is the main command centre for the Armed Forces of Malta, and is divided into four main areas. It is divided into three companies, a support company and a headquarters company. Headquarters Company - provides combat service support to the other subunits of the unit. The orbat consists of a Company Headquarters, Motor Transport section, Pioneer section, Regimental Police section, Signals section, Armoury section and they also enforce access passes and visitor movement control assisted with CCTV surveillance and is based at Malta International Airport. B Company - is responsible for security duties in various locations and it carries out land patrols and conducts vehicle checkpoints for traffic contraventions, illegal immigrants identification and apprehension, and anti-narcotics searches

Armed Forces of Malta
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The coat of arms of the Armed Forces of Malta consists of a De Redin tower with a red background.
Armed Forces of Malta
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Protector-class patrol boats on anti-piracy training mission in 2011
Armed Forces of Malta
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Iveco VM 90
Armed Forces of Malta
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AK-47

61.
Military of Slovakia
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The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic number 15,996 uniformed personnel and 3,761 civilians. Slovakia joined NATO on 29 March 2004, from 2006 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. Ground forces - are made up of two mechanized infantry brigades and a Combat Support Brigade. Air and air defence forces - comprising one wing of fighters, one wing of utility helicopters, air defence systems SA-6 Gainful -5 batteries SA-10 Grumble -1 battery SA-18 Grouse -72 pcs The 5th Special Forces Regiment is Slovakias counter-terrorism and special operations unit. The unit is attached to the armed forces general staff. Slovakia has 169 military personnel deployed in Cyprus for UNFICYP United Nations led peace support operations, Slovakia committed to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan to around 45 men by the end of 2016. Slovakia has 41 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for EUFOR Althea, Slovak troops were withdrawn from Kosovo because the Slovak Armed Forces set its priority to focus mainly on an Afghanistan NATO led mission. Since the independence of Slovakia in 1993, there have been 59 uniformed personnel deaths in the line of service to the United Nations, official homepage of the Ministry of Defence Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic Picture gallery Slovak military photos

Military of Slovakia
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Armed Forces of Slovak Republic coat-of-arms
Military of Slovakia
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Slovak Air Force MiG-29AS NATO upgrade
Military of Slovakia
Military of Slovakia
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Slovak S-300

62.
Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign

Sovereign state
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Member states of the United Nations, all of which are sovereign states, though not all sovereign states are necessarily members

63.
Armed Forces of Armenia
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The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia comprise two services, the Army, and the Air Force and Air Defense. It was partially formed out of the former Soviet Army forces stationed in the Armenian SSR, being a landlocked country, Armenia has no navy. The Commander-in-Chief of the military is the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia established a Ministry of Defense on January 28,1992. Border guards subject to the Ministry patrol Armenias borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Russian troops continue to monitor its borders with Iran, since 2002, Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia signed a military plan with Lebanon on November 27,2015. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was ratified by the Armenian parliament in July 1992, Armenian officials have consistently expressed determination to comply with its provisions and thus Armenia has provided data on armaments as required under the CFE Treaty. Despite this, Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of diverting a part of its military forces to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia is not a significant exporter of weapons, but it has provided support, including material. In March 1993, Armenia signed the multilateral Chemical Weapons Convention, Armenia acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state in July 1993. The U. S. and other Western governments have discussed efforts to establish effective nuclear export control systems with Armenia, the Armenian Armed Forces are Headquartered in Yerevan, where most of the general staff is based. Headed by Chief of Staff Movses Hakobyan, the staff is responsible for operational command of the Armenian Military. Up until December 2002, Armenia maintained a Ministry of Internal Affairs, the two organisations became the Police of the Republic of Armenia and the National Security Service. In February 1999 the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Commander of the Internal Troops, in 2013 the International Institute for Strategic Studies attributed the force with four paramilitary battalions,55 AIFV including 44 BMP-1, and 24 wheeled armoured personnel carriers. According to IISS2010, Armenia has 20 T-80 tanks,137 T-72 tanks,8 T-54/55 tanks and 80 BMP-1s,7 BMP-1K,55 BMP-2 and 12 BRM-1K. Wheeled APCs reported included 11 BTR-60s,21 BTR-70s,4 BTR-80s,145 MT-LBs,5 BMD-1S and these older systems are placing great demands on the logistics system for service, maintenance, replacement parts and necessary upgrades, costing the army both financially and in overall readiness. The ground force is engaged in an effort of reassessment, reorganisation and restructuring, as the future of Armenias defence needs a force structure. The army sees the need to maintain much of its traditional mechanised formations, since the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia has followed a policy of developing its armed forces into a professional, well trained, and mobile military. In 2000, the Centre for International Studies and Research reported that at time the Armenian Army had the strongest combat capability of the three Caucasus countries armies

Armed Forces of Armenia
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Emblem of the Armed Forces of Armenia
Armed Forces of Armenia
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Snipers during a field exercise in 2004
Armed Forces of Armenia
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Armenian Air ForceSu-25 attack aircraft fly in Vee formation over Yerevan 's Republican Square

64.
Armed Forces of Belarus
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The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus consist of the Ground Forces and the Air and Air Defence Forces, all under the command of the Republic of Belarus Ministry of Defence. Being a landlocked country, Belarus has no navy, in 2007 the IISS estimated that personnel in the armed forces numbered 72,940, although a reduction to 60,000 was planned. Most soldiers are conscripts serving for a period 12 months or 18 month, the previous Belarusian National Republic of March 1918 to 1919 did not have time to create armed forces in its brief existence, although attempts to create a military have been documented. The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus is the government organisation that is charged with the duties of raising and maintaining the Armed Forces of Belarus, the formation of the ministry began in 1992, after the events of 1991 in which the Soviet Union had effectively dissolved. The 7th Tank Army comprised the 3rd Guards Tank Division, 34th, the 28th Army comprised four divisions, one of which was a low-status mobilisation division. Also arriving from the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary was the 19th Guards Tank Division, on May 6,1992 the Belorussian Military District was abolished. The Belarusian Ministry of Defence and the Main Staff were formed from its resources, on November 3,1992, Belarus passed the law On the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus defining the status, structure and guiding principles of the Armed Forces. After the introduction of presidency the law was amended twice, on September 4,1996 and on November 9,1999, on January 1,1993 all service personnel on Belarusian soil were required to either take an oath of loyalty to Belarus, or leave. This oath however did not alleviate concerns regarding loyalty to Russia in time of crisis, in June 1995, President Lushenko issued a decree on the Mobile Forces. Much of the air system is integrated into the Russian air defence network. Belarus government websites say that the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus is supported by Central Command Support Elements, combat Support Elements of the Armed Forces included Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare, Signals, Engineer, NBC Defence, Navigation and Topography, and Maintenance organisations. Logistic Elements of the Armed Forces provided Material Support, Logistic Support, Medical Support, Veterinarian Support and its 10 departments train officers of 38 specialties for practically all arms of service. Also in 1995 it was given the status of a government institution of special military education for young men. The Library of Congress said that in 1994 Belarus had ground forces of 52,500, equipment included 3,108 main battle tanks,419 medium-range launchers, sixty surface to-surface missiles, and 350 surface-to-air missiles. In 1993 the 7th Tank Army was reorganised as the 7th Army Corps, in 1994 the 7th Army Corps was redesignated as the 65th Army Corps, still located at Borisov. By January 1,1995, the composition of the Belarusian ground forces had changed, actually, the 103rd Guards Airborne Division had been reorganized as Headquarters, Mobile Forces, in 1993. On 1 August 1996 the 51st Guards Artillery Division was reorganised as the 51st Guards Central Group of Artillery, on 21 December 2001, a major reorganisation of the Ground Forces produced two operational-territorial commands, formed from two former corps headquarters. Since about 2001, territorial defence forces, which as of 2002 number around 150,000, have been forming, organised into battalions, companies, Army equipment includes 1800 main battle tanks and 2600 AFV/APC

Armed Forces of Belarus
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Symbol of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus
Armed Forces of Belarus
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T-72 B being transported

65.
Military of Moldova
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The Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova consist of the Ground Forces and Air and Air Defense Forces. Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union and it acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, DC. It does not have nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations Partnership for Peace on March 16,1994. In early 1995, the armed forces totaled some 11,000 volunteers, at the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan Ground Forces consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion. Equipment and weaponry included 44 BMD-1 AIFVs, and 266 APCs, including 91 TAB-71s, in 1994 the Moldovan Air Force consisted of 1,300 men organized into one fighter regiment, one helicopter squadron, and one missile brigade. Armaments used by the air force included thirty-one MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft, eight Mi-8 Hip helicopters, five transport aircraft, the 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment had been located at Mărculești since October 1951, and had been reequipped with MiG-29s in 1988. It had been part of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division, which had been resubordinated to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet since December 1989, twenty-one of the MiG-29s were sold to the United States in October 1997 to prevent their sale on the world market, and for research purposes. All the spare parts for aircraft were also purchased, as were the accompanying 500 air-to-air missiles. Other military forces also existed within Moldova, in early 1994, the government of the Dnestr Republic had armed forces of about 5,000 which included the Dnestr battalion of the Republic Guard and some 1,000 cossacks. Their equipment and weaponry consisted of 120 main battle tanks,180 armoured fighting vehicles, the remainder of the 14th Guards Army had been over the border in Ukraine and was absorbed by the Ukrainian armed forces. NATO and Moldova http, //education. yahoo. com/reference/factbook/md/milita. html Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova

Military of Moldova
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Military of Moldova
Military of Moldova
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Moldovan soldiers in June 2004.
Military of Moldova
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Moldovan MiG-29B trainer
Military of Moldova
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Moldovan MiG-29B trainer on C-17 Globemaster III

66.
Military of San Marino
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San Marino has one of the smallest military forces in the world. Its different branches have varied functions including, performing duties, patrolling borders, mounting guard at government buildings. There is also a military Gendarmerie which is part of the forces of the republic. The entire military corps of San Marino depends upon the co-operation of full-time forces and their colleagues, known as the Corpi Militari Volontari. National defence in the face of a world power is, by arrangement. There is no service, however under special circumstances citizens aged 16 to 55 may be drafted for the defence of the state. Although once at the heart of San Marinos army, the Crossbow Corps is now a ceremonial force of about 70 volunteer soldiers. The Crossbow Corps has a history from its first mention in the national statutes of 1295. The Guard of the Rock is a military unit in the San Marino armed forces. Its precise origin is difficult to pinpoint due to amalgamations, the Guard of the Rock are the state border patrol, with responsibility for patrolling borders and defending them. In their role as Fortress Guards they are responsible for the guarding of the Palazzo Pubblico in San Marino City. In this role, they are the forces most visible to tourists, under the 1987 statute, the Guard of the Rock are all enrolled as Criminal Police Officers and act to assist the police in investigating major crime. The uniform of the Guard of the Rock is distinctively red and green, for routine patrol duties on the border the uniform is simple and modern, with red trousers, green bomber-jacket, and a green peaked hat. For ceremonial duties the Guard of the Rock carry Beretta BM59 rifles, for patrol duties they are armed with 9mm Glock 17 pistols, and they patrol in green and white patrol cars. This volunteer unit maintains the original function of the Fortress Guard. Although both units are part of the same Guard Corps, and wear the uniform, the Artillery Unit has a totally different military cap badge. Its full name is The Guard of the Council Great and General and this unit, formed in 1740, is composed almost entirely of volunteers, and its duties are largely ceremonial, although members undergo full military training. Due to its uniform, it is arguably the best-known part of the Sammarinese military

Military of San Marino
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The Guard of the Rock in number 1 uniform during the ceremony for the establishment of Captains Regent.
Military of San Marino
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Three members of the Guard of the Rock - this is the number 2 uniform (informal ceremonial). An officer is in the centre.
Military of San Marino
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A member of the Guard of the Council - this is the number 1 uniform (formal ceremonial) of an officer.
Military of San Marino
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A Subaru of the Gendarmerie

67.
Serbian Armed Forces
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The Serbian Armed Forces are the armed forces of Serbia. The armed forces consist of the Serbian Army and the Serbian Air Force, the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces is the President of the Republic. The Serbian Armed Forces are a professional and volunteer based military, Serbia exercises civilian control of the military through the Ministry of Defence. The 1804 Serbian Revolution, started with the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman occupation of Serbia, the victories in the battles of Ivankovac, Mišar, Deligrad and Belgrade, led to the establishment of the Principality of Serbia in 1817. The subsequent Second Serbian Uprising led to independence and recognition of the Kingdom of Serbia. In 1885, the Serbo-Bulgarian War broke out following the Bulgarian unification, in 1912, the First Balkan War erupted between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan League. The victories in the Battle of Kumanovo, Battle of Prilep, Battle of Monastir, Battle of Adrianople, Siege of Scutari resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and its expulsion from the Balkans. Shortly after, the Second Balkan War broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the division of territory, declared war against its allies, Serbia. Following a string of defeats, Bulgaria requested an armistice and signed the Treaty of Bucharest, serbias independence and growing influence threatened neighboring Austria-Hungary which led to the Bosnian crisis of 1908–09. Consequently, since 1901, all Serbian males between the ages of 21 to 46 were liable for general mobilization, the Serbian Armed Forces are commanded by the General Staff corp of senior officers. The general staff is led by the Chief of the General Staff, the chief of the general staff is appointed by the President who is the Commander-in-Chief. The current Chief of the General Staff is General Ljubiša Diković, the armed forces are formally a part of the Ministry of Defence. The current Minister of Defence is Zoran Đorđević, the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence is the aviation and anti-aircraft defence based component of the armed forces consisting of, aviation, anti-aircraft, surveillance and reconnaissance units. The reserve force is composed of a reserve and passive reserve. The active reserve force numbers 2,000 members, while the passive reserve totals about 1.7 million citizens with past military training or experience, the Serbian Armed Forces actively take part in several multinational peacekeeping missions

Serbian Armed Forces
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Emblem of the Serbian Armed Forces

68.
Armed Forces of Ukraine
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The Armed Forces of Ukraine is the military of Ukraine. They are the principal deterrent force against any aggression that could be shown against the state of Ukraine. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are composed of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, the Ukrainian Navy, the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukraines naval forces maintain their own small Ukrainian Naval Infantry force as well as their own Ukrainian Naval Aviation force. The Ukrainian Sea Guard is the coast guard service of Ukraine, initially these units received minimal funding coming from regional budgets and mostly relied on donations. In November 2014 most of the battalions were integrated into Ukraines Ground forces. National Guard of Ukraine serves as the reserve component of Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukraines armed forces came close to France, which maintained a 229,000 man force and it was reported that Ukraines military swelled to 280,000 personnel. Hryhoriy Pedchenko reported that 51% of Ukraines enlisted personnel were contract soldiers, Military units of other states participate in multinational military exercises with Ukrainian forces in Ukraine regularly. Many of these exercises are held under the NATO co-operation program Partnership for Peace, since 3 June 2016 women are allowed to serve in combat units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The modern military in Ukraine was completely inherited from the Soviet Union, like other Soviet republics, it did not possess its own separate military command, as all military formations were uniformly subordinated to the central command of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Administratively the Ukrainian SSR was divided into three districts and most of the Black Sea Fleet naval bases were located on the coast of Ukraine. As the collapse of the Soviet Union took place in 1991, altogether the Armed Forces of Ukraine included about 780,000 personnel,6,500 tanks, about 7,000 combat armored vehicles,1,500 combat aircraft, and more than 350 ships. On 26 February 1991 a parliamentary Standing Commission for Questions of Security, on August 24,1991, the Ukrainian parliament, in adopting the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, also enacted a short resolution About military formations in Ukraine. This took jurisdiction over all formations of the forces of the Soviet Union stationed on Ukrainian soil, and established one of the key agencies. On 3 September 1991 the Ministry of Defence commenced its duties, on 22 October 1991 units and formations of the Soviet Armed Forces on Ukrainian soil were nationalized. This was followed by two Laws of Ukraine that were adopted by the Supreme Council of Ukraine on December 6,1991, the government of Ukraine surrendered any rights of succession of the Soviet Strategic Deterrence Forces that were staged on the territory of Ukraine. Inherent in the process of creating a domestic military were political decisions by the Ukrainian leadership regarding the countrys non-nuclear, included in this region were Ukraines Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhia Oblasts, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Another key event in the creation of the Ukrainian military was the 1992 Tashkent Treaty and this collective military proved impossible to develop because the former republics of the USSR all wished to go their own way, ripping the intricate Soviet military machine into pieces

Armed Forces of Ukraine
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Tu-22M is dismantled through assistance provided by the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program implemented by the DTRA, 2002
Armed Forces of Ukraine
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Emblem of the Armed Forces
Armed Forces of Ukraine
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Ukrainian Su-25UB
Armed Forces of Ukraine
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SS-20 on display at the Great Patriotic War Museum, Kiev

69.
Military in Vatican City
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The State of Vatican City is an enclave country which lies entirely within Rome, the capital of Italy. The responsibility for defending the state from an aggressor lies primarily with the Italian Armed Forces, Vatican City has within its territory the Pontifical Swiss Guard or Swiss Guard. The Swiss Guard is a small force maintained by the Holy See and is responsible for the safety of the Pope and it controls access to the entrances to the city-state together with the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City, a civilian force maintained by Vatican City. Ever since it was founded in 1929 Vatican City has never been at war and has only seen anything close to military action when it was bombed during World War II, the State of Vatican City was established in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty. The Corps of the Pontifical Swiss Guard or Swiss Guard is a small force responsible for the safety of the Pope, like various European powers, earlier Popes recruited Swiss mercenaries as part of an army. The Pontifical Swiss Guard was founded by Pope Julius II on 22 January 1506 as the bodyguard of the Pope. It is listed in the Annuario Pontificio under Holy See, not under State of Vatican City, at the end of 2005, the Guard had 134 members. Recruitment is arranged by an agreement between the Holy See and Switzerland. Members are armed with small arms and the traditional Halberd, since 1970, the Pontifical Swiss Guard has been the only active military in Vatican City. The officers rank markings illustrated here are those of the Swiss Guard, the Chaplain of the Guard ranks as a lieutenant colonel. The commandant is a member of the Papal Household. Corsican Guard, a militia in Rome active from 1603 to 1662. Papal Zouaves, one of the comprising the army of the Papal States prior to the occupation of Rome in 1870. Noble Guard, the horse guards. Index of Vatican City-related articles List of countries armed forces Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City Corps of Firefighters of the Vatican City State Pontifical Swiss Guards website

70.
Military of Abkhazia
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The Abkhazian Armed Forces are the military of Abkhazia. The Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of the Abkhazian armed forces were created on 12 October 1992. The basis of the forces was formed by the ethnic Abkhaz National Guard created early in 1992 prior to the outbreak of the war. Roughly 200,000 to 250,000 Georgian civilians became Internally displaced persons, most of the militarys weapons come from the Russian airborne division base in Gudauta, while others were captured from Georgian forces. On 24 November 2014 the governments of Abkhazia and Russia signed a treaty of cooperation that creates a joint force of troops from the two countries. Georgia regards the Abkhaz armed forces as unlawful military formations and accuses Russia of supplying and training the Abkhaz troops, partly in exchange for Abkhaz land or hotels. The Abkhaz deny this, saying they bought what they have on the market except for five sea cutters received from Russia. Sosnaliev himself is a Russian officer from the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic and held the same post during the Abkhazian war, similarly, former chief of staff, Major General Anatoly Zaitsev had previously served as deputy commander of the Transbaikal Military District in Russia. Another top official, Deputy Defence Minister Aleksandr Pavlushko is a Russian colonel, Georgia also regularly accuses Abkhazia of forcibly recruiting Georgian returnees from the Gali district into the armed forces. The Abkhaz military is primarily a force but includes small sea. In 2006, an anti-terrorist centre of some 200 personnel was created under the de facto ministry of interior, the de facto minister of finance estimated, in 2006, that 35 per cent of Abkhazia’s budget was spent on the military and police. On 8 May 2007, Minister of Defence and Vice Premier Sultan Sosnaliyev resigned and he was succeeded as Defence Minister by First Deputy Defence Minister Mirab Kishmaria, in an acting fashion from 10 May and permanently from 26 July onwards. On 14 April 2010, five Deputy Ministers of Defence were retired, Aslan Ankvab was appointed acting First Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of Staff. On 21 May 2010, Beslan Tsvishba was also appointed First Deputy Minister of Defence, on 29 March 2011, Vladimir Vasilchenko succeeded Aslan Ankvab to become the new, permanent, Chief of Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defence. On 18 May 2015, retired Russian army general Anatoly Khrulyov was appointed Chief of the General Staff by President Raul Khajimba and they are authorised to keep registered weapons at home. The Abkhazian Navy consists of three divisions that are based in Sukhumi, Ochamchire and Pitsunda, four ships Project 1204 Shmel class PBR,657,658, and 328 were transferred from the Russian Navy in the late 1990s. An additional ship ex-AK-527 was also transferred and cannibalized for spares, the three Abkhaz ships did not take part in the 2008 South Ossetia conflict, but their state was unclear. As of 2005 the first two of them had one PSKA Project 1400M Grif class PC speed-boats each, the navy also includes several civil vessels that were equipped with guns and unguided rocket artillery systems

Military of Abkhazia
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Military of Abkhazia
Military of Abkhazia
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T-72
Military of Abkhazia
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T-55
Military of Abkhazia
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BMP-2

71.
Kosovo Security Force
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The Kosovo Security Force or Kosovo Armed Force, is an Army response force charged with conducting crisis response operations in Kosovo and abroad and civil protection operations in Kosovo. Its main tasks are operations in the areas of Search and Rescue, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Firefighting, however, it is also equipped with light weaponry, and the Kosovo government plans to transform it into an army. The Commander of the KSF is Lieutenant General Rrahman Rama, in March 2008, the NATO-led Kosovo Force and the Kosovo Protection Corps started preparations for the formation of the Kosovo Security Force. KFOR entered Kosovo on June 12,1999 under a United Nations mandate, Kosovo declared independence in February 2008. On 19 March 2008, United States President George W. Bush authorised military aid to Kosovo Security Force in another step to establish relations with Kosovo. On 4 January 2009, the names of those who were to be selected for the KSF from the KPC were announced. After being vetted by NATO, roughly 1,400 former members of the KPC were selected to serve as officers and rank, on 21 January 2009, the Kosovo Security Force was officially launched. The KSF did not replace the Kosovo Protection Corps which was disbanded several months later, KFOR was charged with mentoring the KSF and bringing the force to Full Operational Capability. Mentoring efforts were meant to develop the KSF in line with NATO standards, additionally Italy, Portugal and other NATO members are to help the KSF by donations and training. Slovenia donated €30,000 towards the establishment of the KSF, in 2010, the KSF deployed to northern Albania on two separate occasions to perform flood relief operations in support of the Albanian domestic response. President Jahjaga also promoted Kastrati to the rank of Lieutenant General, on 9 July 2013 the Kosovo Security Forces reached Full Operational Capability as determined by NATO. The declaration of full operational capability on 9 July 2013 by the North Atlantic Council means that the KSF is fully capable of performing the assigned to it within its mandate. The KSF will conduct non-military security functions that are not appropriate for the police, recruitment for the Kosovo Security Force started early 2009, once NATO had agreed to implement new tasks in addition to those agreed under UNSCR1244. These new tasks included the standing down of the Kosovo Protection Corps, one of the principal aims was to encourage all minorities to enroll, so special attention was given to carrying out the recruitment process in two languages – Albanian and Serbian. The result has been a professional, multi-ethnic, all-volunteer force, which should continue to remain a source of regional stability. The new Army will have a €98 Million annual budget and will be 5,000 strong with another 3,000 reservists, which will be composed of land forces, a national guard, logistics and training commands. Kosovos ambassador to Turkey, Avni Spahiu, stated that the decision to establish an army has taken in consultation with NATO. The army will have a character as Kosovo has no territorial aspirations

72.
Military of the European Union
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The policy area of defence is principally the domain of nation states. The development of the CSDP is an issue, in particular with regard to the existing role of NATO. Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union provides for substantial military integration within the framework of the union. Complete integration is an option that requires unanimity in the European Council of heads of state or government, for now it remains politically gridlocked considering the critical stance of the United Kingdom in particular. Article 42 does also provide for a permanent structured cooperation between the forces of a subset of member states. However the debate has intensified by the standoff between the EU and Russia over Ukraine, article 42 was invoked for the first time in November 2015 following the terrorist attacks in Paris, which were described by French President François Hollande as an attack against Europe as a whole. The Dunkirk Treaty entered into force on 8 September 1947, the 1948 Treaty of Brussels established the military Western Union Defence Organisation with an allied European command structure under Field Marshal Montgomery. Out of the 28 EU member states,22 are also members of NATO, another two NATO members are EU applicants—Albania and Turkey. Two others—Iceland and Norway—have opted to remain outside of the EU, the memberships of the EU and NATO are distinct, and some EU member states are traditionally neutral on defence issues. Several of the new EU member states were members of the Warsaw Pact. To that end, a number of efforts were made to increase the EUs military capability, after much discussion, the most concrete result was the EU Battlegroups initiative, each of which is planned to be able to quickly deploy about 1,500 personnel. However, some EU states may and do make multilateral agreements about defence issues outside of the EU structures, the European Defence Initiative is a proposal for enhanced European Union defence cooperation presented by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg in Brussels on 29 April 2003. It was based on the reinforced cooperation principle and aimed for better reactivity under the European Security, there were also some concerns about a multi-speed Europe. Britain was initially opposed to the concept but subsequently modified its position in favour and it is sometimes referred to as the Initiative of the Four. On 20 February 2009 the European Parliament voted in favour of the creation of Synchronised Armed Forces Europe as a first step towards a true European military force, SAFE will be directed by an EU directorate, with its own training standards and operational doctrine. EU forces have deployed on peacekeeping missions from middle and northern Africa to Western Balkans. EU military operations are supported by a number of bodies, including the European Defence Agency, European Union Satellite Centre, in an EU consisting of 28 members, substantial security and defence co-operation is increasingly relying on great power co-operation. The defence arrangements which have been established under the EU institutions are part of the Common Security and Defence Policy and it should be noted that Denmark has an opt-out from the CSDP

73.
Kalmar Union
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The Union was not quite continuous, there were several short interruptions. Legally the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic, one main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility which did not. Diverging interests gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals from the 1430s until its breakup in 1523 when Gustav Vasa became king of Sweden. Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries until its dissolution in 1814. Then Union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when a grandson of the incumbent king of Denmark was elected its king, the union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League. Margaret, a daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark, married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, Margaret succeeded in having her son Olav recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376 Olav inherited the crown of Denmark from his grandfather as King Oluf III, with his mother as guardian. The two kingdoms were united in a union under a child king, with the kings mother as his guardian, later. On 2 February the next year, she was recognized as regent of Norway. Their common enemy was the Hanseatic League and the growing German influence over the Scandinavian economy. The Nordic union was established on 17 June 1397 by the Treaty of Kalmar, signed in the Swedish castle of Kalmar on Swedens south-east coast, at each junction, installation of a new monarch tended to mean a break-up of the union for a while. Eric of Pomerania, however, became the monarch of all three kingdoms, at Kalmar, the 15-year-old Eric of Pomerania was crowned king of all three kingdoms by the archbishops of Denmark and Sweden, but Margaret managed to remain in control until her death in 1412. It is said that contemporaries of the Union would not recognize the term, Union of Kalmar—that they just understood that much of the time. While the term meaning Treaty of Kalmar was known already at the time, the Swedes were not happy with the Danes frequent wars on Schleswig, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, which were a disturbance to Swedish exports to the European continent. Furthermore, the centralization of government in Denmark raised suspicions, the Swedish Privy Council wanted to retain a fair degree of self-government. The unity of the union eroded after the Danish defeat against the German Hanseatic League in the 1430s, even to the point of armed rebellion, erik was deposed as the union king and was succeeded by his nephew, the childless Christopher of Bavaria. In the power vacuum that arose following Christophers death, Sweden elected Charles VIII king with the intent to reestablish the union under a Swedish king, during the next seven decades struggle for power and the wars between Sweden and Denmark would dominate the union

Kalmar Union
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The Letter of Union from July 1397. It never properly entered into force.
Kalmar Union
Kalmar Union
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Royal seal of Eric of Pomerania (1398)
Kalmar Union
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King Christian II

74.
Danish colonial empire
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The Danish colonial empire and pre Dano-Norwegian empire denotes the colonies that Denmark-Norway possessed from 1536 until 1953. At its apex the colonial empire spanned four continents, the period of colonial expansion marked a rise in the status and power of Danes and Norwegians in the union. Much of the Norwegian population moved to work in Copenhagen, attend the University. After 1814, when Norway was granted to Sweden following the Napoleonic Wars, christian IV first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark-Norways overseas trade, as part of the mercantilist wave that was sweeping Europe. Denmark-Norways first colony was established at Tranquebar on Indias southern coast in 1620, admiral Ove Gjedde led the expedition that established the colony. They are now autonomous countries of the Kingdom of Denmark with home rule, Denmark maintained several tradings stations and four forts on the Gold Coast in west Africa, especially around modern day Ghana. Three trading stations were built, Fort Frederiksborg, Kpompo, Osu Castle by Accra in 1661, that was purchased from Sweden, the forts were Fort Prinsensten built in 1784, Fort Augustaborg from 1787, Fort Friedensborg and Fort Kongensten, several of which are ruins today. Of these, only one is used today, Fort Christiansborg. Plantations were established by Frederiksborg, but they failed, Fort Christiansborg became the base for Danish power in west Africa, and the centre for slave trade to the Danish West Indies. In 1807, Denmarks African business partners were suppressed by the Akan people subgroup-Ashanti, Denmark sold its forts to the United Kingdom in 1850. With the ratification of the Kalmar Union in 1397, Denmark-Norway inherited Greenland which was part of Norway since its settlement in the Viking Age. After Norway was ceded to Sweden in 1814 following the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark-Norway acquired the island of St. Thomas in 1671 and St. Jan in 1718, and bought St. Croix from France in 1733. All of the economies were based primarily on sugar. These islands were known as the Danish West Indies and were sold to the United States in 1917 for 25 million dollars. Several Danish-American succession talks had made since 1870 due to a rising amount of riots. The Zahle Government held a heavily boycotted election for Danish mainland constituencies, the United States hoped to use them as naval bases. Since 1917, the islands have been known as the U. S. Virgin Islands, the most important economic aspect was spice trade and access to the east Asian area, including Imperial China situated farther to the east. The colony at Trankebar was kept for over 200 years, with a few interruptions, in 1755 Denmark acquired the Frederiksnagore, and later the towns of Achne and Pirapur

75.
Danish colonization of the Americas
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Denmark and the former political union of Denmark–Norway had a colonial empire from the 17th through the 20th centuries, large portions of which were found in the Americas. Denmark and Norway in one form or another also maintained land claims in Greenland since the 13th century, Greenland, which had been settled by the Norsemen in the 980s, submitted to Norwegian rule in 1261. Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden in 1397, scandinavian settlement in Greenland declined over the years and the last written record is a marriage recorded in 1408, although the Norwegian claims to the land remained. Despite the decline of European settlement and the loss of contact, between the years 1605-1607, King Christian IV of Denmark commissioned three expeditions to Greenland. These expeditions were conducted in order to locate the lost Norse Eastern Settlement as well as to reassert Danish sovereignty over Greenland, the expeditions were largely unsuccessful, partly due to its leaders lacking experience with the arctic ice and difficult weather conditions. Additionally later expeditions were searching on the east coast of Greenland, in the 1660s, a polar bear was added to the royal coat of arms. Around this same time Dano-Norwegian ships, joined by ships from various other European countries, began journeying to Greenland to hunt bowhead whales, egede led three boats to Baals River and established Hope Colony on Kangeq with his family and a few dozen colonists. Finding no Norse survivors, he started a mission among the Inuit, meanwhile, his settlers had been ravaged by scurvy and the Dutch attacked and burnt a whaling station erected on Nipisat. The Bergen company went bankrupt in 1727, the death of Egedes wife prompted his return to Denmark, with his son Paul left in charge of the settlement. He was succeeded by the General Trade Company, both were granted armed ships and full monopolies over trade around their settlements, to prevent better-armed, lower-priced, and better-quality Dutch goods from bankrupting the enterprise. One effect was that construction of new settlements was effectively suspended after Nennortalik for a century until the establishment of Amassalik on the shore in 1894. The 1782 Instructions also established separate governing councils for North and South Greenland, repeated inquiries into the Greenlandic trade and the end of absolutism in Denmark did not end the KGHs monopolies. In 1857, the administrators did set up parsissaets, local councils conducted in Kalaallisut with minor control over spending decisions at each station, in 1912, Royal Greenlands independence was ended and its operations were folded into the Ministry of the Interior. Arctic exploration placed claims of Danish sovereignty over the whole of Greenland in doubt, Norway – which had become independent of Sweden in 1905 – eventually protested and claimed Erik the Reds Land in eastern Greenland during 1931. The Permanent Court of International Justice ruled against Norway two years later, albeit on questionable grounds, the fall of Denmark in early 1940 increased the power and importance of the governors greatly, but by 1941 the island had become an American protectorate. Following the war, the corporate policy was discontinued, the North and South Greenland colonies were united. In 1953, Greenlands colonial status was ended and it was made a part of the Kingdom of Denmark with representation in the Folketing. In 1979, the Folketing granted the island home rule and, in 2009, all other than defense

Danish colonization of the Americas
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A 1747 map based on Egede's descriptions, including many geographical errors common to the time.
Danish colonization of the Americas
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Christiansted, Danish West Indies

76.
Danish Golden Age
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The Danish Golden Age covers a period of exceptional creative production in Denmark, especially during the first half of the 19th century. Although Copenhagen had suffered fires, bombardment and national bankruptcy. It also saw the development of Danish architecture in the Neoclassical style, Copenhagen, in particular, acquired a new look, with buildings designed by Christian Frederik Hansen and by Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll. In relation to music, the Golden Age covers figures inspired by Danish romantic nationalism including J. P. E. Hartmann, Hans Christian Lumbye, Niels W. Gade, literature centred on Romantic thinking, introduced in 1802 by the Norwegian-German philosopher Henrik Steffens. Key contributors were Adam Oehlenschläger, Bernhard Severin Ingemann, N. F. S. Grundtvig and, last but not least, Hans Christian Andersen, Søren Kierkegaard furthered philosophy while Hans Christian Ørsted achieved fundamental progress in science. The Golden Age thus had an effect not only on life in Denmark but, with time. The origins of the Golden Age can be traced back to around the beginning of the 19th century, surprisingly, this was a very rough period for Denmark. Copenhagen, the centre of the intellectual life, first experienced huge fires in 1794 and 1795 which destroyed both Christiansborg Palace and large areas of the inner city. In 1801, as a result of the involvement in the League of Armed Neutrality. Then in 1813, as a result of the inability to support the costs of war. To make matters worse, Norway ceased to be part of the Danish realm when it was ceded to Sweden the following year, Copenhagens devastation nevertheless provided new opportunities. Architects and planners widened the streets, constructing beautifully designed Neoclassical buildings offering a brighter yet intimate look, at the time, with a population of only 100,000, the city was still quite small, built within the confines of the old ramparts. As a result, the figures of the day met frequently, sharing their ideas, bringing the arts. Henrik Steffens was perhaps the most effective proponent of the Romantic idea, in a series of lectures in Copenhagen, he successfully conveyed the ideas behind German romanticism to the Danes. Influential thinkers, such as Oehlenschläger and Grundtvig were quick to take up his views and it was not long before Danes from all branches of the arts and sciences were involved in a new era of Romantic nationalism, later known as the Danish Golden Age. Especially in the field of painting, change became apparent, grand historical art gave way to more widely appealing but less pretentious genre paintings and landscapes. The Golden Age is generally believed to have lasted until about 1850, around that time, Danish culture suffered from the outbreak of the First Schleswig War. In addition, political reforms involving the end of the monarchy in 1848

77.
Scandinavian Monetary Union
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The Scandinavian Monetary Union was a monetary union formed by Denmark and Sweden on 5 May 1873, by fixing their currencies against gold at par to each other. An equal valued krone/krona of the union replaced the three legacy currencies at the rate of 1 krone/krona = 1⁄2 Danish rigsdaler = 1⁄4 Norwegian speciedaler =1 Swedish riksdaler. The monetary union was one of the few results of the Scandinavian political movement of the 19th century. The union provided fixed exchange rates and stability in monetary terms, upon acceding to the union, Sweden had the name of its currency changed from Riksdaler Riksmynt to Swedish krona. The word krone/krona literally means crown, and the differences in spelling of the name represent the differences between the North Germanic languages, the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, but this did not affect the basis for co-operation in the monetary union. It was instead the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that brought an end to the monetary union, Sweden abandoned the tie to gold on 2 August 1914, and without a fixed exchange rate the free circulation came to an end. All three countries use the same currencies as during the monetary union, but they lost their peg, one to one. The Icelandic króna is a derivative of the Danish krone, established after Iceland was elevated to a kingdom in union with Denmark in 1918. Iceland cut its ties to Denmark in 1944 and became a republic, the Scandinavian Monetary Union was inspired by the Latin Monetary Union, established in 1865. The Scandinavian currency union 1875–1914. in Jaime Reis, ed. International Monetary Systems in Historical Perspective, the impact of the Scandinavian Monetary Union on financial market integration

Scandinavian Monetary Union
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Two golden 20 kr coins, with identical weight and composition. The coin to the left is Swedish and the right one is Danish.
Scandinavian Monetary Union
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History of Scandinavia

78.
Postage stamps and postal history of Denmark
–
This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of Denmark. Denmarks postal history begins with an ordinance of 24 December 1624 by King Christian IV and this service consisted of nine main routes, and was to be operated by the mayor of Copenhagen and several guilds. Initially the mail was carried by foot, with riders being used after 1640, the service was turned over to a Paul Klingenberg on 16 July 1653, who introduced a number of innovations, including mail coaches able to carry parcels, and service to Norway. He ran the service until 14 March 1685, when he handed it over to Count Christian Gyldenløve, the Gyldenløve family continued in control until 1711, in 1694 new routes and rates were established. The state took control in 1711. The first steamship carrying mail was the SS Caledonia, which began carrying mail between Copenhagen and Kiel on 1 July 1819, the first postage stamps were introduced on 1 April 1851, by a law passed on 11 March. The first value was a four rigsbankskilling stamp printed in brown, a design with a crown, sword. This was followed on 1 May by a 2rbs value in using the denomination as the design. Both stamps were typographed, watermarked, and imperforate, and distinctive for having a yellow-brown burelage printed on top of the design, the 2rbs prepaid the local postage rate in København, while the 4rbs was the national rate. Four rbs stamps were introduced on 1 May 1851 for use in the Duchy of Slesvig. The design and first printings were made by M. W. Ferslew, but he died, few of the 2rbs values were printed, and today copies are priced at around 3,000 US$ unused and $1,000 used. The 4rbs was more common, with unused at $700 and used copies at just $40, values of 2s, 4s, 8s, and 16s were issued at various times from 1854 to 1857. In 1858 the dotted pattern in the background was replaced with wavy lines, in 1863 a larger crown was used in the watermark and the stamps were rouletted. Along with postage stamps, the use of numeral cancellations was adopted, consisting of a number with several concentric circles,1 was Copenhagen,2 the office in Hamburg,5 Aarhus, and so forth. Values of 2s, 3s, 4s, 8s, and 16s came out between May 1864 and 1868 and these were the first Danish stamps to be perforated. In 1870 the first of the long-running numeral issue appeared, the design was an oval with the denomination in large numerals in the center, surrounded by an ornate frame in a different color. The frame is very nearly symmetric, but not entirely, some of the inverts are quite common, the employees at the printing plant presumably also having difficulties knowing which way was up. In 1873, the currency was changed to the decimal kroner, the perforation spacing was changed in 1895, and the watermark in 1902

Postage stamps and postal history of Denmark
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A 4 skilling stamp of 1854
Postage stamps and postal history of Denmark
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An 8-øre numeral stamp, perforation is post-1895.
Postage stamps and postal history of Denmark
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A 35-øre caravel, 1940 (Type II).

79.
History of Schleswig-Holstein
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The history of Schleswig-Holstein consists of the corpus of facts since the Pre-history times until the modern establish of the Schleswig-Holstein state. The Jutland Peninsula is a peninsula in Northern Europe. Schleswig is also called Southern Jutland, the Danes settled in the early Viking ages in Northern and Central Schleswig and the Northern Frisians after approximately the year 900 in Western Schleswig. The pattern of populated and unpopulated areas was relatively constant through Bronze Age, after many Angles emigrated to the British Islands in the 5th century, the land of the Angles came in closer contact with the Danish islands — plausibly by partly immigration/occupation by the Danes. Later also the contacts increased between the Danes and the people on the half of the Jutish peninsula. After the Slavic migrations, the area of modern Holstein was inhabited by Slavic Wagrians a subgroup of the Obotrites. Apart from northern Holstein and Schleswig inhabited by Danes there were Nordalbingia and Wagria in respectively, Nordalbingia was one of the four administrative regions of the medieval Duchy of Saxony, the others being Angria, Eastphalia, and Westphalia. Nordalbingia consisted of four districts, Dithmarschen, Holstein, Stormarn, the Wagri, Wagiri, or Wagrians were a tribe of Polabian Slavs inhabiting Wagria, or eastern Holstein in northern Germany, from the ninth to twelfth centuries. They were a constituent tribe of the Obodrite confederacy, in the Battle of Bornhöved on the field of Sventanafeld near the village of Bornhöved near Neumünster in 798 the Obodrites, led by Drożko, allied with the Franks, defeated the Nordalbingian Saxons. Areas north of Elbe were given to the Obodrites, while Hadeln was directly incorporated, however, the Obodrites soon were invaded by Danes and only the intervention of Charlemagne pushed the Danes out of Eider river. A border was established at the Eider River in 811, there on the narrowest part of southern Jutland was established the important transit market, which was protected by the Danevirke fortification. Hedeby was located on the inlet Schlei opposite to what is now the City of Schleswig, the wealth of Schleswig, as reflected by impressive archeological finds on the site today, and the taxes from the Haithabu market, was enticing. A separate kingdom of Haithabu was established around year 900 by the Viking chieftain Olaf from Svealand, olafs son and successor Gnupa was however killed in battle against the Danish king, and his kingdom vanished. The southern border was then adjusted back and forth a few times, for instance, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II occupied the region between the river Eider and the inlet Schlei in the years 974–983, called the March of Schleswig, and stimulating German colonisation. Later Haithabu was burned by Swedes, and first under the reign of King Sweyn Forkbeard the situation was stabilised, Haithabu was once again and ultimately destroyed by fire in 1066. As Adam of Bremen reported in 1076, the Eider River was the border between Denmark and the Saxon territories, throughout the Middle Ages, Schleswig was a source of rivalry between Denmark and the nobility of the duchy of Holstein within the Holy Roman Empire. The Danish position can be exemplified with an inscription on a stone in the walls of the town of Rendsburg located on the border between Schleswig and Holstein, Eidora Terminus Imperii Romani, a number of Holsatian nobles sought to challenge this. The area of Schleswig was first inhabited by the mingled West Germanic tribes Cimbri, Angles and Jutes, later also by the North Germanic Danes, Holstein was inhabited mainly by the West Germanic Saxons, aside Wends and other Slavic peoples in the East

History of Schleswig-Holstein
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Uwe Jens Lornsen (1793-1838)
History of Schleswig-Holstein
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The historic settlement areas in present-day Schleswig-Holstein

80.
Duchy of Schleswig
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The region is also called Sleswick in English. Roman sources place the homeland of the Jute tribe north of the river Eider and that of the Angles to its south, who in turn abutted the neighbouring Saxons. During the early Viking Age, Haithabu - Scandinavias biggest trading centre - was located in this region and its construction, and in particular its great expansion around 737, has been interpreted as an indication of the emergence of a unified Danish state. In May 1931 scientists of the National Museum of Denmark announced the finding of eighteen Viking graves with the remains of eighteen men in them, the discovery came during excavations in Schleswig. The skeletons indicated that the men were bigger proportioned than twentieth-century Danish men, each of the graves was laid out from east to west. Researchers surmised that the bodies were entombed in wooden coffins originally, towards the end of the Early Middle Ages, Schleswig formed part of the historical Lands of Denmark as Denmark unified out of a number of petty chiefdoms in the 8th to 10th centuries. The southern boundary of Denmark in the region of the Eider River, the Treaty of Heiligen was signed in 811 between the Danish King Hemming and Charlemagne, by which the border was established at the Eider. During the 10th century there were wars between East Francia and Denmark. In 1027, Conrad II and Canute the Great again settled their mutual border at the Eider. In 1115, king Niels created his nephew Canute Lavard - a son of his predecessor Eric I - Earl of Schleswig, in the 1230s, Southern Jutland was allotted as an appanage to Abel Valdemarsen, Canutes great-grandson, a younger son of Valdemar II of Denmark. Feuds and marital alliances brought the Abel dynasty into a connection with the German Duchy of Holstein by the 15th century. The latter was a subordinate to the Holy Roman Empire. The title Duke of Schleswig was inherited in 1460 by the kings of Norway who were also regularly elected kings of Denmark simultaneously. This was an anomaly – a king holding a ducal title, the title and anomaly survived presumably because it was already co-regally held by the kings sons. Between 1544 and 1713/20 the ducal reign had become a condominium, with the royal House of Oldenburg, a third branch in the condominium, the short-lived House of Haderslev, was already extinct in 1580 by the time of John the Elder. On the west coast the Danish diocese of Ribe stopped about 5 km north of the present border and this line corresponds remarkably well with the present border. In the 17th century a series of wars between Denmark and Sweden—which Denmark lost—devastated the region economically, however the nobility responded with a new agricultural system that restored prosperity. In the period 1600 to 1800 the region experienced the growth of manorialism of the common in the rye-growing regions of eastern Germany

81.
Denmark in World War II
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During most of World War II, Denmark was first a protectorate, then an occupied territory under Germany. On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark in Operation Weserübung, on 29 August 1943 Germany placed Denmark under direct military occupation, which lasted until the Allied victory on 5 May 1945. Contrary to the situation in countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions continued to function relatively normally until 1945. Just over 3,000 Danes died as a result of the occupation. Overall this represents a low mortality rate when compared to other occupied countries. An effective resistance movement developed by the end of the war, the occupation of Denmark was initially not an important objective for the German government. The decision to occupy its northern neighbor was taken to facilitate a planned invasion of the strategically more important Norway. However, as late as February 1940 no firm decision to occupy Denmark had been made, the issue was finally settled when Adolf Hitler personally crossed out the words die Nordspitze Jütlands and replaced them with Dä, a German abbreviation for Denmark. In a much more vague and longer-term way, some Nazis hoped to incorporate Denmark into a greater Nordic Union at some stage, officially Germany claimed to be protecting Denmark from a British invasion. At 4,15 on the morning of 9 April 1940, in a coordinated operation, German ships began disembarking troops at the docks in Copenhagen. Although outnumbered and poorly equipped, soldiers in parts of the country offered resistance, most notably the Royal Guard in Copenhagen. At the same time as the crossing, German planes dropped the notorious OPROP. Leaflets over Copenhagen calling for Danes to accept the German occupation peacefully, colonel Lunding from the Danish armys intelligence office later confirmed that Danish intelligence knew the attack would be coming on either 8 or 9 April and had warned the government accordingly. The Danish ambassador to Germany, Herluf Zahle, issued a warning which was also ignored. As a result of the turn of events, the Danish government did not have enough time to officially declare war on Germany. Denmark was in a position in any event, however. Its territory and population were too small to hold out against Germany for any sustained period, unlike Norway, Denmark had no mountain ranges from which a drawn-out resistance could be mounted. The flat territory of Jutland was an area for the German army to operate in

Denmark in World War II
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Headquarters of the Schalburg Corps, a Danish SS unit, after 1943. The occupied building is the lodge of the Danish Order of Freemasons located on Blegdamsvej, Copenhagen.
Denmark in World War II
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Danish soldiers man an anti-aircraft gun, 1940. All wear the distinctive Danish helmet.
Denmark in World War II
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A group of Danish soldiers on the morning of the German invasion, 9 April 1940. Two of these men were killed later that day.
Denmark in World War II
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Erik Scavenius, Danish PM 1942–43 with Werner Best, the German plenipotentiary in Denmark.

82.
Rescue of the Danish Jews
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The rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during Nazi Germanys occupation of Denmark during World War II. On October 1,1943, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported, on April 9,1940, Denmark and Norway were invaded by Nazi Germany. Realizing that successful armed resistance was impossible and wishing to avoid civilian casualties, the Nazi German government stated that its occupation was a measure taken against the Allies and that Germany did not intend to disturb the political independence of Denmark. Because the Danish government promised loyal cooperation with the Germans, the occupation of Denmark was thus relatively mild at first. German propaganda even referred to Denmark as the protectorate, earning the nickname the Cream Front, due to the relative ease of the occupation. King Christian X retained his throne, and the Danish government, the Rigsdag, even censorship of radio and the press was administered by the Danish government, rather than by the occupying German civil and military authorities. During the early years of the occupation, Danish officials repeatedly insisted to the German occupation authorities that there was no Jewish problem in Denmark, in addition, the German Reich relied substantially upon Danish agriculture, which supplied meat and butter to 3.6 million Germans in 1942. In late 1941, during the visit of the Danish foreign minister, Erik Scavenius, to Berlin, the Danish state responded robustly, the courts imposed stiff fines and jail sentences on the editors and would-be arsonists, and the government took further administrative action. At the same time, the Danish resistance movement was becoming more assertive in its underground press, during the summer, several nationwide strikes led to armed confrontations between Danes and German troops. Deeming these terms unacceptable and a violation of sovereignty, the Danish government declared a state of emergency. Some 100 prominent Danes were taken hostage, including the Chief Rabbi Dr. Max Friediger, in response, the Danish government resigned on August 29,1943. Without the uncooperative Danish government to impede them, Denmarks German occupiers began planning the deportation to Nazi concentration camps of the 7,800 or so Jews in Denmark. On September 28,1943, Duckwitz leaked word of the plans for the operation against Denmarks Jews to Hans Hedtoft, chairman of the Danish Social Democratic Party. Hedtoft contacted the Danish Resistance Movement and the head of the Jewish community, C. B. Henriques, the early phases of the rescue were improvised. Some simply contacted friends and asked them to go through telephone books, most Jews hid for several days or weeks, uncertain of their fate. Although the majority of the Danish Jews were in hiding, they would eventually have been caught if safe passage to Sweden could not have been secured, Sweden had earlier been receiving Norwegian Jews with some sort of Swedish connection. But the actions to save the Norwegians were not entirely efficient, when martial law was introduced in Denmark on August 29, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs realized that the Danish Jews were in immediate danger. On October 2, the Swedish government announced in a statement that Sweden was prepared to accept all Danish Jews in Sweden

Rescue of the Danish Jews
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Polish passport used in Denmark up to March 1940. The Jewish holder escaped to Sweden during the war.
Rescue of the Danish Jews
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Memorial in "Denmark Square", Jerusalem

83.
Geography of Denmark
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Denmark is a Nordic country located in Northern Europe. It consists of the Jutland peninsula and several islands in the Baltic sea, Denmark is located southwest of Sweden and due south of Norway and is bordered by the German state Schleswig-Holstein to the south, on Denmarks only land border,68 kilometres long. Denmark borders both the Baltic and North Seas along its 8,750 km tidal shoreline, no location in Denmark is further from the coast than 52 km. The size of the area of Denmark cannot be stated exactly since the ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline. On the southwest coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1 and 2 m, and the tideline moves outward and inward on a 10 km stretch, a circle enclosing the same area as Denmark would be 742 km long. Denmark has 443 named islands, of which 72 are inhabited, the largest islands are Zealand and Funen. The island of Bornholm is located east of the rest of the country, ferries or small aircraft connect to the smaller islands. Main cities are the capital Copenhagen on Zealand, Århus, Aalborg and Esbjerg in Jutland and this means that the winters are mild and windy and the summers are cool. The local terrain is flat with a few gently rolling plains. The territory of Denmark includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark and its position gives Denmark complete control of the Danish Straits linking the Baltic and North Seas. The countrys natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, chalk, stone, gravel, iceland, Ireland and the United Kingdom dispute Denmarks claim that the Faroe Islands continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles or about 370 km. The Faroe Islands continue to study proposals for full independence, uncontested sovereignty dispute with Canada over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Denmark is currently investigating the extent of the shelf of Greenland. One of the areas investigated is the geographical North Pole, as of 2012 Denmark has a population of 5,543,453. About a quarter of Danes live in the capital Copenhagen, list of islands of Denmark Danish Realm ISO 3166-2, DK NUTS, DK UN/LOCODE, DK Footnotes Reference The World Book Encyclopedia. Media related to Geography of Denmark at Wikimedia Commons Map of Denmark from the Atlas “Theatrum orbis terrarum” by Abraham Ortelius and its the first printed map of Denmark

Geography of Denmark
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Geography of Denmark
Geography of Denmark
Geography of Denmark
Geography of Denmark

84.
Danish straits
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The Danish straits are the three channels connecting the Baltic Sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. They transect Denmark, and are not to be confused with the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland. The three main passages are, Great Belt, Danish, Storebælt Little Belt, Danish, Lillebælt Øresund, specifically, there are five straits named belt, the only ones in the world. The Old Norse form of verb is sundr. In Norway hundreds of narrow straits separating islands and combining fjords or outer parts of fjords are named Sund, another explanation derives sound from an ancient verb sund in the meaning of to swim. That way a sound is a swimmable strait, in the Swedish language any strait is called sund. The Germanic word sound is not related to the Romance languages originated word sound, kiel Canal List of islands of Denmark March across the Belts Denmark 1,500,000 – official map for download Norwegian dictionary, sund Norwegian dictionary, sundre

85.
List of islands of Denmark
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This is a list of islands of Denmark. There are about 406 islands in Denmark, not including the Faroe Islands or Greenland, some 70 of them are populated but the remainder are uninhabited. Some of the islands have only become uninhabited in recent decades. Different lists of Danish islands vary, depending on how the island is defined. According to the official Danish Government definition, an island needs to be surrounded by water at least one-half metre deep, another common criterion is that an island needs to be surrounded by free-flowing, natural water and not just an artificial, narrow canal. According to this criterion, places such as Christianshavn and Holmen in Copenhagen, the number of islands in Denmark changes from time to time. New islands are formed by sedimentation. Several examples of new islands are found in the waters around Æbelø, north of Funen, including Drætlingen which formed in the late 1990s. These new islands are less stable than larger, morainic islands. Peberholm, formed in the process of construction of the Øresund Bridge, is a notable example, other artificial Danish islands include a number of marine fortresses off Copenhagen, such as Middelgrundsfortet, Trekroner Fort and Flakfortet. An example of this is Jordsand, one of the Danish Wadden Sea Islands, according to records from 1231, the island then had an area of about 2,000 hectares. After a series of storms during that century, its area decreased to around 41 hectares. By December 1999, the European windstorm Cyclone Anatol had destroyed the last piece of the island and Jordsand had ceased to exist. In other cases, islands are absorbed by larger neighbouring masses of dry land, sometimes this means that an island becomes a cape or headland. Denmarks second largest island, the North Jutlandic Island, was not always an island, a storm on 3 February 1825 penetrated the narrow land mass, Agger Tange, and thus separated Northern Jutland from the rest of Jutland. The area had earlier been an island, when a strait at Vust had been prior to the 12th century

List of islands of Denmark
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A map showing the Jutland peninsula and most notable larger islands of Denmark.

86.
Politics of Denmark
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Denmark is described as a nation state. Danish politics and governance are characterized by a striving for broad consensus on important issues. Executive power is exercised by the cabinet of Denmark, presided over by the Prime Minister who is first among equals, legislative power is vested in both the executive and the national parliament. Members of the judiciary are nominated by the executive, formally appointed by the monarch, Denmark has a multi-party system, with two strong parties, and four or five other significant parties. No single party has held a majority in the Folketing since the beginning of the 20th century. Since only four coalition governments have enjoyed a majority, government bills rarely become law without negotiations. Hence the Folketing tends to be powerful than legislatures in other EU countries. The Constitution does not grant the power of judicial review of legislation. Since there are no constitutional or administrative courts, the Supreme Court deals with a constitutional dimension, on many issues the political parties tend to opt for co-operation, and the Danish state welfare model receives broad parliamentary support. This ensures a focus on efficiency and devolved responsibilities of local government on regional and municipal levels. Margrethe II has ruled as Queen Regnant and head of state since 14 January 1972, in accordance with the Danish Constitution the Danish monarch, as head of state, is the theoretical source of all executive and legislative power. However, since the introduction of parliamentary sovereignty in 1901, a de facto separation of powers has been in effect, the text of the Danish constitution dates back to 1849. Therefore, it has been interpreted by jurists to suit modern conditions, in a formal sense, the monarch retains the ability to deny giving a bill royal assent. In order for a bill to law, a royal signature. The monarch also chooses and dismisses the Prime Minister, although in modern times a dismissal would cause a constitutional crisis, on 28 March 1920, King Christian X was the last monarch to exercise the power of dismissal, sparking the 1920 Easter Crisis. When a new government is to be formed, the monarch calls the party leaders to a conference of deliberation, on the basis of the advice the monarch then appoints the party leader who commands a majority of recommendation to lead negotiations for forming a new government. However, the monarch does continue to exercise three rights, the right to be consulted, the right to advise, and the right to warn, pursuant to these ideals, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet attend the regular meeting of the Council of State. Nine parties are represented in parliament, the four oldest and in history most influential parties are the Conservative Peoples Party, the Social Democrats, Venstre and the Danish Social Liberal Party

87.
Municipalities of Denmark
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Denmark is divided into five regions, which contain 98 municipalities. This structure was established per an administrative reform, effective Monday 1 January 2007 which replaced the counties with five regions, the 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 larger units, most of which have at least 20,000 inhabitants. The reason was to give the new municipalities greater financial and professional sustainability, many of the responsibilities of the former counties were taken over by the enlarged municipalities. Presented in a report put forward as a proposal by the government in April 2004, the report on the structural reform of the public sector was first presented 9 January 2004 by the commission which was set up by the government 1 October 2002. The archipelago of Ertholmene is not part of any municipality, but is administered by the Ministry of Defence, the existing coat of arms of the municipalities. The average land area of a Danish municipality is 432.59 km2,167.08 square miles, the Constitution of Denmark states, Article 82. The right of municipalities to manage their own affairs independently, under State supervision,2,522 municipal councillors were elected on Tuesday 15 November 2005 being the first councils elected since the new reform. The number of councillors was reduced to 2,468 in the 2009 elections, in 1997 there were 4,685 municipal and 374 county councillors in the then 275 municipalities and 14 counties. As an example of the reduction in the number of councillors, Bornholm then had a total of 122 councillors in five municipalities, after the merger on 1 January 2003, of the five municipalities and the county, there was one single municipal council with 27 municipal councillors. These guidelines replaced the old guidelines with the elections in 2005 after the laws initiating the structural reform were passed in parliament. Council elections are held on the third Tuesday of November every four years, the previous were held on 19 November 2013 and the next are due to be held on 21 November 2017. 32 municipalities including those of the recently formed Ærø Municipality and Bornholm Regional Municipality remained unchanged and were not merged with other municipalities, copenhagen County was not included in the municipal reform of 1 April 1970. This is probably because the municipality was extremely populous. Thus the number of municipalities was 277 from 1 April 1970 to 1 April 1974, still, the reform is called The municipal reform of 1970, because the decisive changes happened 1 April 1970, when 1098 municipalities were reduced to 277. Also on 1 April 1974, Avedøre, which was part of Glostrup Municipality, was conjoined with Hvidovre Municipality and this combination was logical, as Avedøre bordered Hvidovre, but was separated from Glostrup. This brought the number of municipalities down to 271 from 1 January 2003, the final agreement from 2005 included more parties. Until 1978 the fiscal year from 1 April to 31 March was in use in the sector since a law was passed in 1849. As a consequence of a law passed by the Folketing in 1976, many reforms and laws passed prior to 1979 therefore have effect from 1 April

88.
Constitution of Denmark
–
The Constitutional Act of Denmark, or simply the Constitution, forms a part of the supreme law of Kingdom of Denmark, applying equally in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles of governance and establishes the structure, procedures, powers, later sections set out fundamental rights and the duties of citizens, such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and compulsory military service. The Kingdom is governed on the basis of this Constitutional Act but it is complemented by Royal Law, the Act of Succession and devolution arrangements in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The government of Denmark, as described in Part One of the Constitutional Act, is a system under a constitutional monarchy. In its present form, the Constitutional Act is from 1953 and its adoption ended an absolute monarchy and introduced democracy. Denmark celebrates the adoption of the Constitution on 5 June—the date in which the Constitution was ratified—every year as Constitution Day, the Danish Parliament cannot make any laws which may be repugnant or contrary to the Constitutional Act. However, Denmark has no court, and establishing such a court would require a constitutional amendment. Changes to the Act must be confirmed by a majority in two parliamentary terms and the approval of the electorate through a national referendum. The Danish Constitution differs from all other Danish laws by virtue of its superseding status, as such, these laws are not permitted to contravene the provisions of the Constitution Act. The main principle of the Constitutional Act was to limit the Kings power and it creates a comparatively weak constitutional monarch who is dependent on Ministers for advice and Parliament to draft and pass legislation. The Constitution of 1849 established a parliament, the Rigsdag, consisting of the Landsting. The most significant change in the Constitution of 1953 was the abolishment of the Landsting, leaving the unicameral Folketing and it also enshrined fundamental civil rights, which remain in the current constitution, such as habeas corpus, private property rights and freedom of speech. The Constitutional Act has been changed very few times, but always with the consent of Danish citizens, the wording in the Act is so general that it can still be applied today, despite major changes in society and political life in the intervening years. However, since Denmark lacks a Constitutional Court, scrutiny of legislation for compatibility with the Constitution is a matter for ordinary courts, significantly this means that the actual testing of compatibility can only be instigated by a citizen or company who is affected by the question. When reading the Danish Constitution, it is important to bear in mind that the King is meant to be read as the government because of the symbolic status. This is a consequence of sections 12 and 13, by which the King executes his power through his ministers, an implication of these sections is that the monarch cannot act alone in disregard of the ministers, so the Danish monarch does not interfere in politics. The Danish Parliament is the power, enacting the laws of the country. The Cabinet is the power, formally acting out the role of the Monarch

Constitution of Denmark
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The Danish Constitution of 1849
Constitution of Denmark
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The National Constitutional Assembly (painting by Constantin Hansen 1860–64) (Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød)
Constitution of Denmark
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The Constitutions of Denmark located inside Folketinget.

89.
Courts of Denmark
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The Courts of Denmark is the ordinary court system of the Kingdom of Denmark. Part of the Courts of Denmark are also three boards, The Process Grating Board, The Sideline Employment Board and the Judicial Appointment Council, finally the Danish Court Administration is vested with the joint administration of the whole organization. The courts of Greenland and the Faeroe Islands constitute semi-autonomous parts of the Courts of Denmark and are governed by separate, in accordance with Article 3 of the Danish Constitution, all judicial authority is vested in the courts of justice. The constitution also provides that judges of the court may pass judgements. The Danish system of courts is based on a structure, in which there are no special or constitutional courts of law. As a rule, all courts of law may adjudicate disputes in legal areas such as civil, labour, administrative, the Court of Indictment and Revision handles complaints regarding procedure, disqualification of judges, etc. brought by the users of the courts, against the courts. Proceedings are oral in general and open to the public in the lower courts, media transmissions from within the court are prohibited, unless allowed by the presiding judge. The general structure of the system is inspired by the traditions of continental Europe. The Act has undergone substantial changes since its enactment in 1916, furthermore, the Danish Constitution provides for the Court of Impeachment of the Realm to hear cases brought against ministers concerning their administration. The Danish Courts exercise the powers of government and resolve related issues, including probate, bankruptcy, enforcement, land registration. Lay judges may be of any profession, except they may not be attorneys, members of the clergy, or acting civil servants, from late 2005 a gradual reform of the lower courts is under way. When passed, the reform will transform the role of the County and High Courts, the composition of the county courts varies but is regulated by law. The Copenhagen County Court has 49 judges and a President, whilst Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg, and Roskilde county courts have a President and 15,10,10,29 jurisdictions have two to four judges, whilst the last 50 jurisdictions have only one judge. At the preparatory and trial stages of civil cases only one judge presides, in criminal cases where this is not the case, the judge sits with two lay judges. Special rules regarding appointment of lay judges apply to maritime cases, in cases where lay judges sit with the judge, decisions are adopted by simple majority. In addition to their duties, county court judges act as notary public and bailiffs, as well as administrators of bankruptcy proceedings. Furthermore, they administer the land registry. In regard to the tasks, these functions may be assigned to an assessor

Courts of Denmark
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Entrance to the Danish Supreme Court, located in Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
Courts of Denmark
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The Eastern High Court in Copenhagen, Zealand
Courts of Denmark
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The Western High Court in Viborg, Jutland

90.
Elections in Denmark
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There are three types of elections in Denmark, elections to the national parliament, local elections and elections to the European Parliament. Referendums may also be called to consult the Danish citizenry directly on an issue of national concern, parliamentary elections are called by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, usually four years after the last election, although early elections may occur. Elections to local councils and to the European Parliament are held on fixed dates, elections use the party-list proportional representation system. Only citizens on the register are eligible to vote in parliamentary elections. The last election was the Danish referendum on the replacement of the model on home. The Kingdom of Denmark elects a unicameral parliament, the Folketing, to get a share of supplementary seats a party needs to get at least 2% of the total number of votes. Elections to the Folketing must be held at least every four years, for Denmark proper, the Red bloc won 85 seats and the Blue bloc 90 seats. Even with all of the four seats from Greenland and the Faroe Islands going to the Red bloc. The latest elections for the municipal councils and the five regional councils were held on 19 November 2013. The Denmark constituency directly elects thirteen members to the European Parliament every five years, the dHondt method of proportional representation is used. The option for one third of the members of the Parliament to put a law to a referendum has a number of restrictions, recently, the Danish government was highly criticized when it did not hold a referendum regarding the controversial Lisbon treaty. In all three cases, to defeat the proposition the no votes must not only outnumber the yes votes, the Constitution of Denmark can be changed only after a referendum, after a complicated procedure. First a government proposes a change in constitution, then an election is held. After the new parliament approves the text of the constitutional changes. To pass, the yes votes must not only outnumber the no votes, as of 2013 there were 16 referendums held in Denmark, most recent being Danish euro referendum in 2000 and Danish Act of Succession referendum in 2009

91.
Folketing
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The Folketing, also known as the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national parliament of the Kingdom of Denmark. Established in 1849, until 1953 the Folketing was the house of a bicameral parliament, called the Rigsdag. It meets in Christiansborg Palace, on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, the Folketing passes all laws, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. It is also responsible for adopting the states budgets and approving the states accounts, as set out in the Danish Constitution, the Folketing shares power with the reigning monarch. In practice, however, the role is limited to signing laws passed by the legislature. The Folketing consists of 179 representatives,175 from Denmark,2 from Greenland, general elections must be held every four years, but it is within the powers of the Prime Minister to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has elapsed. On a vote of no confidence, the Folketing may force a single Minister or the government to resign. Members are democratically elected by proportional representation,135 by the DHondt method and 40 by the Sainte-Laguë method, the Danish political system has traditionally generated coalitions. Most post-war governments have been minority coalitions ruling with the support of non-government parties, the most recent general election took place on 18 June 2015 and the Folketing reconvened on 6 October. The first sitting of the house was attended by Queen Margrethe II, from 1849 to 1953 the Folketing was one of the two houses in the bicameral parliament known as the Rigsdag, the other house was known as the Landsting. Since both houses, in principle, had power, the terms upper house and lower house were not generally used. The difference between the houses was voter representation, the Folketing was elected by common vote among men and consisted mainly of independent farmers, traders, and merchants as well as the educated classes. From 1915 both men and women had the right of vote for both houses, and also the Landsting was elected by vote, although indirectly and with a higher age limit than for the Folketing. During the next decades, law-making mainly took place in the Folketing, in 1953, a revised constitution was adopted by popular vote. Among the changes was the elimination of the Landsting and the introduction of a unicameral parliament, Christiansborg Palace has been the domicile of parliament since 1849. The palace is located in the heart of Copenhagen, winning a seat in parliament requires only 2% of the vote. With such a low threshold, a large number of parties are represented in the chamber, making it all. No party has achieved this since 1901, all Danish governments since then have been coalitions or one-party minority governments

92.
Foreign relations of Denmark
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The foreign policy of Denmark is based on its identity as a sovereign nation in Europe. As such its primary foreign policy focus is on its relations with other nations as an independent nation. Denmark has long had relations with other nations. It has been involved in coordinating Western assistance to the Baltic states, the country is a strong supporter of international peacekeeping. Danish forces were engaged in the former Yugoslavia in the UN Protection Force, with IFOR. Denmark also strongly supported American operations in Afghanistan and has contributed both monetarily and materially to the ISAF and these initiatives are a part of the active foreign policy of Denmark. In recent years, Greenland and the Faroe Islands have been guaranteed a say in foreign issues, such as fishing, whaling. Following World War II, Denmark ended its policy of neutrality. Denmark has been a member of NATO since its founding in 1949, the conservative led Centre-right government accepted this variety of minority parliamentarism, that is, without making it a question of the governments parliamentary survival. With the end of the Cold War, however, Denmark has been supportive of U. S. policy objectives in the Alliance, danes have enjoyed a reputation as reluctant Europeans. When they rejected ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on 2 June 1992, the Amsterdam Treaty was approved in the referendum of 28 May 1998. In the autumn of 2000, Danish citizens rejected membership of the Euro currency group in a referendum, the Lisbon treaty was ratified by the Danish parliament alone. It was not considered a surrendering of national sovereignty, which would have implied the holding of a referendum according to article 20 of the constitution, a continental shelf dispute involving Iceland, Ireland, and the UK Hans Island. An island located between Greenland and Canadian Arctic islands, unresolved boundary disputed between Canada and Denmark. This dispute flared up again in July 2005 following the visit of a Canadian minister to the disputed island, Denmark is trying to prove that the North Pole is geographically connected to Greenland. If such proof is established, Denmark will claim the North Pole, Denmark and Poland have still not agreed on the location of the maritime border between the two countries. Denmark supports a border halfway between the two countries, Poland wants to be awarded an even greater share of the Baltic Sea, the Polish position is based on the argument that Poland owns a longer coast line than the Danish island of Bornholm. China and Denmark, relations since 1674, jørgen Sevaldsen, Bo Bjørke, Claus Bjørn

93.
List of political parties in Denmark
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This article lists political parties in Denmark. Denmark has a multi-party system, with two or three parties, and four or five other significant parties. The government typically consists of parties and a small number of supporting parties. No party has won a majority since 1901. All governments since then have either been one-party minority governments or coalitions between two or more parties, the Ministry of Social Welfare registers and validates party names and the official party letters for all parties that participate in national elections. On ballots, the parties are sorted alphabetically by party letter, Last represented in the Folketing 2010-2011 by Per Ørum Jørgensen. Represents the German minority in South Jutland, Last represented in the Folketing in the 1950s. Represented in the councils of Aabenraa, Tønder and Sønderborg municipalities. Holds an observers seat in Haderslev municipal council, Last represented in the 1998-2001 Folketing. See List of regional and local political parties in Denmark, the following parties still exist but have remained without representation in either Folketing or the European Parliament for at least 20 years. Last represented in the 1979-1981 Folketing, Last represented by themselves in the 1977-1979 Folketing. Last represented in the Folketing 1973-1974, Å National Socialist Movement of Denmark. Never represented in either Folketing or European Parliament, considers itself the heir of the DNSAP which was last represented in the 1943 Folketing. R Danish Unity Y Left Socialists Last represented in the 1984-1987 Folketing, bjørnbakkernes Venstre F Farmers Party D Centre Democrats. P Common Course Communist League G Danish Peoples Party, First Danmarks Venstresocialistiske Parti Det Forenede Venstre Free Conservatives Free Peoples Party Free Social Democrats Frihed 2000 Fokus

94.
Copenhagen Stock Exchange
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Nasdaq Copenhagen is one of the Nasdaq Nordic Exchanges. Nasdaq Nordic goes back to the 2003 merger of OM AB and HEX plc to form OMX and is, since February 2008, part of Nasdaq, Inc. The exchange was converted to a company in 1996 with share capital issued in a ratio of 60-20-20 to members, issuers of shares. In 1997 the FUTOP Clearing Center A/S, the Danish derivatives market, FUTOP issues, clears, and guarantees futures and options on shares, indices, and interest rate products. FUTOP products can be traded electronically, in 1998, the CSE and the Stockholmsbörsen formed the NOREX Alliance, a step toward developing a Nordic securities market. Normal trading sessions are from 09, 00am to 05, 00pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the exchange in advance. The C20 Index, a weighted, market value index comprising 20 Danish blue chips, launched for futures, the KFX Index comprises growth companies in the medical, telecommunications, biotechnology, and information technology sectors on the exchanges KVX Growth Market. The KAX Index is the exchanges all-share index, introduced in 2001 to replace the previous all-share index and it conforms to the Global Industry Classification Standard developed by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Standard & Poors

95.
Taxation in Denmark
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The income tax in Denmark was introduced in 1903 and is now divided into a state income tax and a local income tax. The state income tax is a progressive tax while the income tax is a flat tax. All income from employment or self-employment is taxed at 8% before income tax and this tax is termed a gross tax. Income below DKK43.442 is income tax-free, but subject to the gross tax, interest paid up to DKK50,000 is tax deductible. Commuting exceeding 24 kilometers/day receives a DKK2.05 per kilometer tax deduction, for commutes exceeding 100 kilometers per day, the rate is reduced to DKK1.03 per kilometer. A number of other deductions apply, the general rule is that the taxpayer is able to deduct his/her expenses in acquiring their taxable income, although there are many exceptions to this rule. Employees have very limited possibilities for tax deduction as it is assumed that the covers the expenses related to the employees work. The employer will then be able to deduct most of these expenses from his own taxable income, furthermore, Union Fees are tax deductible. The state income tax has two income brackets, in 2017 income from DKK43.442 to DKK479,600 is taxed at 5. 83% and income above DKK479,600 is taxed an additional 15%. Other taxes include Municipal income tax, currently in the range 23% - 28%, though on average 24. 09%, and a state tax, in the range of 8% - 15%. From 1 January 2019 there will be no health tax as it then have been phased out. Under the Danish tax system, it is possible for a high-wage earner to pay up to 51. 5% of their total income after gross tax, whichever of those two assessments is lower results in the base land value. This base land value is taxed at between 1.6 and 3. 4% in 2013, although some individual properties may pay more or less. Proceeds from selling ones home - if there is any home equity - are not taxed, the local income tax varies from municipality to municipality. The highest local income tax in 2009 is 27. 80%, the regional health care tax was 8% when it was introduced from 1 January 2007. It is set and handled by the government, as the regions never have had the right to levy taxes independently unlike the counties. This tax will be phased out by 1 January 2019, the sum of all income tax percentages cannot exceed 51. 5%. On top of the taxes, members of the Danish National Church pay an additional 0. 4% to 1. 5% church tax

96.
Tourism in Denmark
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Tourism in Denmark constitutes a growth industry. Tourism is an economic contributor at approx. DKK82 billion in revenue and 120,000 full-time-equivalent-jobs annually, inbound tourists to Denmark mainly comprise people from neighboring countries, especially Germany, followed by Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. The UNWTOs World Tourism rankings show that Denmark had 8.7 million visitor arrivals in 2010, the total annual number of overnight stays in Denmark has been somewhat declining in 2011. Denmark has long stretches of beaches, attracting many tourists in the summer. As Europes oldest kingdom and the home of Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark has a relatively large outbound tourism, with Spain as primary destination, accounting for 14% of all overnight stays abroad of four days or more in 2013. Turkey ranks as the primary destination outside of Europe at 7%, in 2004 Copenhagen Region had 136 hotels with a total of 4.9 million nights spent. There were 250 cruise liners calling at Copenhagen Port with more than 350,000 passengers, among the major tourist attractions are Tivoli Gardens, the Freetown Christiania and The Little Mermaid, all located in Copenhagen. A survey conducted by the newspaper Berlingske Tidende in July 2008 listed The Little Mermaid as the most popular tourist attraction in Copenhagen, kronborg Castle in Helsingør is famous for its associations with Shakespeares Hamlet. In view of its proximity to Germany, one of the most popular areas of Denmark for visitors is the South of Sealand, møn, with its magnificent chalk cliffs, Liselund Park and its sandy beaches is one of the main destinations. Falster has a number of beaches including those at Marielyst. The area also has several tourist attractions including Knuthenborg Safari Park, the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea to the south of Sweden offers tourists a variety of attractions including rocky seascapes, picturesque fishing villages and sandy beaches. Among the quaint towns worth visiting are Gudhjem, Sandvig, Svaneke, the magnificent ruin of Europes largest castle, Hammershus, is the islands most famous monument. There is also an airport at Rønne, funen, linked to Sealand by the Great Belt Bridge, has strong associations with Hans Christian Andersen who was born in Odense. The cities of Aalborg, in the north, and Aarhus, in the east, attract a number of visitors. Aalborgs 14th century Budolfi Church, 17th century Aalborghus Castle and the Jomfru Ane Gade are major attractions, Aarhus is amongst the top 100 conference cities of the World and has seen a large expansion of the hotel business, throughout the last couple of decades. Other important tourist attractions are music festivals and shopping facilities, with one of the largest ports in Northern Europe, more than a dozen international cruise ships docks in Aarhus each year. Finally the island of Mors, famous for its beauty, attracts tourists to its Jesperhus Flower Park

97.
Immigration to Denmark
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Denmark has seen a steady increase in immigration over the past thirty years, with the majority of new immigrants originating from non-Western countries. As of 2014, more than 8% of the population of Denmark consists of immigrants, the population of immigrants is approximately 476,059, excluding Danish born descendants of immigrants to Denmark. Prior to World War I, Denmark experienced a mass emigration to non-European nations, during World War I, the period that followed, and World War II international emigration from and immigration to Denmark halted. Immigration to Denmark increased rapidly during the 1960s as the economy expanded. As a result of the demand, a majority of immigrants that came to Denmark during the 1960s. A large proportion of the guest worker population came from Turkey, Yugoslavia, at the end of the 1960s immigration policy became more stringent, greatly reducing the number of immigrants arriving in Denmark. Immigration was limited further in the early 1970s in response to the first oil crises, in 1972 and 1973, Denmarks immigration policy only allowed for migration of workers from within the Nordic region. After 1973 this policy was expanded to also permit labor migration from Europe, the granting of political asylum in conjunction with the Geneva Conventions greatly impacted immigration to Denmark from the 1980s onward. Although immigrants arriving as a result of family reunification continued to comprise a portion of new immigrant populations. In the 1990s, refugees made up a majority of inflow of immigrants and she stated that the Danish people should have more explicitly clarified the rules and values of Danish culture in order to be able to teach them to new arrivals. This was received as a change in line with the attitude of the Danish people, dozens of cases of girls living with older men were identified in asylum centres in Denmark in February 2016, Reuters reported in April 2016. Minister Inger Stojberg stated she planned to stop housing child brides in asylum centres, furthermore, a spokeswoman for the ministry indicated There will never be exceptions in cases where one side is below the age of 15. According to Statistics Denmark, in the year 2014 immigrants from countries of origin made up 41. 88% of the population. Refugees to Denmark are primarily Iraqis, Palestinians, Bosnians, Iranians, the population of non-western immigrants in 2008 was more than three times the number in the 1970s when family reunification was first introduced. According to the U. S. Department of State, Islam is the second largest religion in Denmark, a 2007 study of religious pluralism in Denmark describes the 0. 7% of the population practicing Hinduism as being primarily Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka and Northern India. Negative public attitudes toward immigration in Denmark have been linked with negative views of Islam and its incompatibility with Danish Protestant ethics. Immigrants from non-OECD countries of origin have also found to have employment rates of 13 percentage points or more below that of immigrants from OECD countries. In a 2009 report by the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration, despite reported gains, immigrant labor market participation remains far below that of Danes, which was above 80% in 2008

98.
Languages of Denmark
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The Kingdom of Denmark has only one official language, Danish, the national language of the Danish people, but there are several minority languages spoken through the territory. These include German, Faroese, and Greenlandic, a large majority of Danes also speak English as a second language, it is mandatory for Danish students to learn from the first grade in Folkeskole. In the fifth grade of Folkeskole, a language option is given. The third most widely understood language is Swedish, with 13% of Danes reporting to be able to speak it, German is an official minority language in the former South Jutland County, which was part of Imperial Germany prior the Treaty of Versailles. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Ethnic Germans live in South Jutland, schleswigisch is highly divergent from Standard German and can be quite difficult to understand by Standard German speakers. Outside of South Jutland, the members of St. Peters Church in Copenhagen use German in their Church, its website, and the school that it runs. The German minority operates its own system of schools with German as the primary language of instruction as well as a system of libraries throughout South Jutland. It also operates a German high school located in Aabenraa, beside this there are also 28,584 immigrants from Germany in Denmark by 2012. Faroese, a North Germanic language like Danish, is the language of the Faroe Islands. It is also spoken by some Faroese immigrants to mainland Denmark, Faroese is similar to Icelandic, and also the Old Norse language spoken in the Scandinavian area more than a millennium ago. Greenlandic is the language of the 54,000 Inuit living in Greenland, which is, like the Faroe Islands. Roughly 7,000 people speak Greenlandic on the Danish mainland, jutlandic dialect Minority languages of Denmark

99.
Culture of Denmark
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The culture of Denmark has a rich intellectual and artistic heritage. The astronomical discoveries of Tycho Brahe, Ludwig A, from the mid-1990s, Danish films have attracted international attention, especially those associated with Dogme 95 like those of Lars Von Trier. Denmark has had a tradition of movie making and Carl Theodor Dreyer has been recognised as one of the worlds greatest film directors. Culture and the arts thrive as a result of the high amount of government funding they receive. Thanks to a system of grants, Danish artists are able to devote themselves to their work while museums, theatres, similar to other Scandinavian cultures, a fundamental aspect of Danish culture is hygge. Hygge, meaning snug, is a concept that evokes coziness, particularly when relaxing with friends or loved ones. Christmas time, when loved ones sit close together on a rainy night, is a true moment of hygge, as is grilling a pølse. It is suspected the concept of Hygge is part of the reason Danes, the Danish word for the Christmas holiday is Jul, from the Old Norse jól, the term for midwinter, itself cognate with the English word, yule. Midwinter celebrations were an important part of Scandinavian culture since prehistoric times, the morning can be spent in various ways but most often it is the time when preparations are made for the evening. Juleaften or Yule Eve starts around 6 p. m. when a dinner is served. The menu is, White and browned potatoes, red cabbage, White potatoes are ordinary boiled potatoes without their jackets and browned potatoes are caramelised white potatoes. Some families enjoy a special Danish version of roast pork, called flæskesteg complete with crackling or maybe a special sausage called medisterpølse, made out of rice, it is not to be confused with rice pudding. The chief difference is the whipped cream added to the rice, on serving, chopped almond and vanilla can be added, among other things. It is served cold, with hot cherry sauce, an unchopped almond can also be added and hidden in the dessert. The person who finds it in his portion receives a small prize, afterwards, the candles on the Christmas tree are lit and the family dance around it singing Christmas songs and carols and subsequently exchange presents. Danish folklore is made up of folk tales, legends, songs, music, dancing, popular beliefs and traditions, mostly communicated by the inhabitants of towns, many of these were passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. As in neighbouring countries, interest in folklore grew with a feeling of national consciousness in 19th-century Denmark. Researchers travelled across the country collecting innumerable folktales, songs and sayings while observing traditional dress in the various regions, folklore today is part of the national heritage, represented in particular by national and local traditions, songs, folk dances and literature

100.
Danish art
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Danish art is the visual arts produced in Denmark or by Danish artists. It goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, for many early periods, it is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. Art from what is today Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, Danish medieval painting is almost entirely known from church frescos such as those from the 16th-century artist known as the Elmelunde Master. The Reformation greatly disrupted Danish artistic traditions, and left the body of painters and sculptors without large markets. Thereafter for an extended period art in Denmark was either imported from Germany, from the late 18th century on, the situation changed radically and beginning with the Danish Golden Age, a distinct tradition of Danish art has continued to flourish until today. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Danish art has a big production per capita, lurs are a distinctive type of giant curving Bronze Age horn, of which 35 of the 53 known examples have been found in bogs in Denmark, very often in pairs. They are normally made of bronze, and often decorated, a possibly alien find in Denmark is the Gundestrup cauldron, a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date to the 1st century BC. It was found in 1891 in a bog near the hamlet of Gundestrup in north-eastern Jutland. The silversmithing of the plates is very skilled, the bowl,70 cm across, was beaten from a single ingot. Now in the National Museum of Denmark, it is the largest known example of European silver work from the period, the style and workmanship suggest Thracian origin, while the imagery seems Celtic, so it may not reflect local styles. Danish sites have given their names to two of the six main styles of Viking or Norse art, Jelling style and its successor Mammen style, only one Danish ship burial is known, from Ladbyskibet. The images on the runestones at Jelling are probably the best known Danish works of the period, church wall paintings are to be found in some 600 churches across Denmark, probably representing the highest concentration of surviving church murals anywhere in the world. Most of them back to the Middle Ages. They lay hidden for centuries as after the Reformation in Denmark, of most interest to Danish art are the Gothic paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries as they were painted in a style typical of native Danish painters. Adopting the Biblia pauperum approach, they present many of the most popular stories from the Old, albrecht Dürers portrait of her father Christian II of Denmark, painted in Brussels in 1521, has not survived, though portraits of him by other foreign artists have. After a period of development its pupils were indeed to lead the creation of a distinct Danish style, leading Danish artists teaching at the Academy included Christian August Lorentzen and Jens Juel, also later Director. Among his works are the series of statues of Christ. Motifs for his works were mostly from Greek mythology, but he also created portraits of important personalities, as in his tomb monument for Pope Pius VII in St Peters Basilica

101.
Cinema of Denmark
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Denmark has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness, the Danish filmmaker Carl Th. Dreyer is considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. In the modern era, notable filmmakers in Denmark include Lars von Trier, who co-created the Dogme film movement, Danish cinema pioneer Peter Elfelt, a photographer, was the first Dane to make a film. Between the years of 1896 and 1912, he produced around 200 documentary films on life in Denmark and his first film was Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde. Furthermore, he produced the first Danish feature film, Henrettelsen, the first film show in Denmark took place in the Panorama cinema on the Town Hall square in Copenhagen, in June 1896. However, the selection of films had made and produced abroad. In 1906, cinema owner Ole Olsen founded the first Danish film-making company and it gained most of its income from the export market of short films. Not until 1909 were other film-producing companies established, in 1910 the number had reached ten. This period is now known as the Golden Age of Danish Cinema, in the spring of 1910, Nordisk Films Kompagni changed its policy of producing only short films and began making feature films. This was largely inspired by the Århus Fotorama companys Den hvide Slavehandel, with the increasing length of films, there was a growing artistic awareness, which is evident in Afgrunden. This film launched the career of Asta Nielsen, who soon became Europes first great female film star, the film was an erotic melodrama, which soon became the preferred genre in early Danish cinema. In 1911, with director August Blom as the new head of production and these films were sold abroad profitably because the technical and photographic quality impressed audiences. Yet, when exporting the films, the elements needed to be toned down in order not to offend the working class audiences. In 1913, Nordisk released the first full-length feature movie, Atlantis directed by Blom, after 1913, Danish cinema began to lose its leading foothold in the film industry, with foreign companies having intensified competition in the production of feature-length films. Danish cinema had begun to suffer from a lack of imagination. During World War I, the USA became the nation in film production. However, Dreyer, as well as Benjamin Christensen, were not permanently connected to the influential Danish film industries, as a whole, Danish film in the 1920s was on the decline in spite of the filmmakers better technical skills. Of most interest at this time were perhaps the so-called Dickens movies directed by the very able A. W. Sandberg

102.
Media of Denmark
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Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Scandinavian country in Europe and a sovereign state. The southernmost and smallest of the Nordic countries, it is south-west of Sweden and south of Norway, Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has an area of 42,924 square kilometres. The country consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, the islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Sweden and Norway were ruled together under the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523. Denmark and Norway remained under the monarch until outside forces dissolved the union in 1814. The union with Norway made it possible for Denmark to inherit the Faroe Islands, Iceland, beginning in the 17th century, there were several cessions of territory to Sweden. In the 19th century there was a surge of nationalist movements, Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945, the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchy which had begun in 1660. It establishes a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, the government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nations capital, largest city and main commercial centre. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs, Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948, in Greenland home rule was established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009. Denmark became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973, maintaining certain opt-outs, it retains its own currency, the krone. It is among the members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE. The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate. This is centred primarily on the prefix Dan and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning land, related to German Tenne threshing floor. The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland, with references to the border forests in south Schleswig. The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth

Media of Denmark
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The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot dating from the Nordic Bronze Age.
Media of Denmark
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Flag
Media of Denmark
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The Ladby ship, the largest ship burial found in Denmark.
Media of Denmark
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Larger of the two Jelling stones, raised by Harald Bluetooth.

103.
Sport in Denmark
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The national sport is football with the most notable results being qualifying for the European Championships six times in a row and winning the Championship in 1992. Other significant achievements include winning the Confederations Cup in 1995 and reaching the final of the 1998 World Cup. Other popular sports include handball, cycling, sailing sports, badminton, ice hockey, swimming, a few youths also play Basketball. Sport is encouraged in school, and there are sports clubs in all cities. The national stadium for football is the Parken Stadium, Football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with over 313,000 players in more than 1600 clubs. The national football team in Denmark have reached high and notable results, like qualifying for the European Championships six times in a row, other significant achievements include winning the Confederations Cup in 1995 and reaching the quarter final of the 1998 World Cup. Denmark national football team reached #3 ranking in the FIFA ranking in May 1997, the top-league in Danish football is called The Danish Superliga. The reigning champions are F. C. Copenhagen, while they are also the most successful ever in financial terms. Famous Superliga players include Per Nielsen, Jimmy Nielsen, Michael Hansen, Mogens Krogh, the second level league is the Danish 1st Division, which was last won by Lyngby Boldklub. The third tier is made up of the two Danish 2nd Divisions, East and West, the last two champions were NordVest and Blokhus FC. The fourth tier is the Denmark Series, which is split into three pools, the last champions were BK Marienlyst, IF Skjold Birkerød and Kjellerup IF. The top womens league is the Elitedivisionen, most recently won by Fortuna Hjørring, HEI Aarhus are the most successful team, with 10 titles. The premier cup competition is the Danish Cup, won in 2016 by F. C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen are also the last winners of the Danish Supercup, back in 2004, of which Brøndby IF are the most successful club. Brøndby are the winners of the twice-held Danish League Cup. The Danish Womens Cup has been won the last three times in a row by Brøndby IF, and seven overall by Fortuna Hjørring. The current manager of the team is Åge Hareide. Legendary former players include Poul Tist Nielsen, Peter Schmeichel, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Allan Simonsen, golf has become a highly popular sport in recent years in Denmark with more than 180 courses across the country. Golf is mostly popular among the demographic, with more members over the age of 24 than any other sport in Denmark

104.
Flag of Denmark
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The Flag of Denmark is red with a white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag, the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. A banner with a cross is attested as having been used by the kings of Denmark since the 14th century. An origin legend with considerable impact on Danish national historiography connects the introduction of the flag to the Battle of Lyndanisse of 1219, the elongated Nordic cross reflects the use as maritime flag in the 18th century. The flag became popular as national flag in the early 19th century and its private use was outlawed in 1834, and again permitted in a regulation of 1854. The flag holds the record of being the oldest continuously used national flag. A red field charged with a white cross extending to the edges, in 1748, a regulation defined the correct lengths of the two last fields in the flag as 6⁄4. This regulation is still in effect today and thus the legal proportions of the National flag is today 3,1,3 in width, no official nuance definition of Dannebrog rød exists. The private company Dansk Standard, regulation number 359, defines the red colour of the flag as Pantone 186c, the white-on-red cross emblem originates in the age of the Crusades. In the 12th century, it was used as war flag by the Holy Roman Empire. In the Gelre Armorial, dated c, 1340–1370, such a banner is shown alongside the coat of arms of the king of Denmark. This is the earliest known undisputed colour rendering of the Dannebrog, at about the same time, Valdemar IV of Denmark displays a cross in his coat of arms on his Danælog seal. In this version, the lions are holding a Danebrog banner, the reason why the kings of Denmark in the 14th century begin displaying the cross banner in their coats of arms is unknown. Caspar Paludan-Müller suggested that it may reflect a banner sent by the pope to the Danish king in support of the Baltic countries, adolf Ditlev Jørgensen identifies the banner as that of the Knights Hospitaller, which order had a presence in Denmark from the later 12th century. The legend attributing the origin of the flag to the campaigns of Valdemar II of Denmark were recorded by Christiern Pedersen. The flag was lost in a defeat at the Battle of Hemmingstedt on 17 February 1500. In 1559, King Frederik II recaptured it during his own Dithmarschen campaign, in 1576, the son of Johan Rantzau, Henrik Rantzau, also writes about the war and the fate of the flag. He notes that the flag was in a condition when returned. In a letter dated 22 February 1500 to Oluf Stigsøn, King John describes the battle, in fact, the entire letter gives the impression that the lost battle was of limited importance

105.
Der er et yndigt land
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Der er et yndigt land or, commonly translated into English as There is a lovely country, is one of the national anthems of Denmark. The lyrics were written in 1819 by Adam Oehlenschläger and bore the motto in Latin, the music was composed in 1835 by Hans Ernst Krøyer. Later, Thomas Laub and Carl Nielsen each composed alternative melodies, but neither of them has gained widespread adoption, when first published, the anthem had 12 verses, but this was shortened to the first, third, fifth, and last verse in later editions. In common use, only the first verse and the last three lines of the verse are sung. The first half of the last verse is rarely heard, the last line of each verse is repeated once. Denmark is one of two countries in the world, the other being New Zealand, with two official national anthems. Officially, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast is both a national and royal anthem, it has equal status with Der er et yndigt land, on royal and military occasions, Kong Christian is performed alone or the two national anthems are played together. The version today is significantly shortened